Avengers: Judgement Day
by The Mandalorian Batman
Summary: Following the time heist, paradoxes were created within the Marvel Universe, and drew the attention of a supernatural entity from the stars. As he tries to view the future, he sees nothing where the multiverse once was. As he sets out to fix this interruption in the balance, worlds and destinies will collide. In all of this disorder, one thing is for certain: Nothing Ever Ends.
1. Time

**So, before you read this, I would like to say a few things:  
**

**This will include more characters than just that of Star Wars and the Avengers. The Justice League, Watchmen, and Stranger Things will also be involved in this story. And also Red Vs Blue. Because yes. ****Second, this is a thematic sequel to a story that I wrote under the Star Wars Rebels tag (Agent of Chaos), but don't worry- this will have a lot more elements to it. ****Thirdly, for the love of GOD go read Watchmen. Or watch the movie. They are both so f*cking good, and one of the characters will be extremely important here, so please- please read it. But don't worry- this story will explain plenty of stuff, and will have a few chapters basically just explaining things. Just please, as a fan of good storytelling, read or watch Watchmen. It's on TIME's top 100 stories of all time, AND it's a comic book! **

**Anyway, that is all. Enjoy!**

* * *

_It's May 2nd, 2008. I listen as the clang of metal ringings out through a large cavern, illuminated by the crimson flashing of sparks and flame. Here, Anthony Edward Stark sprinkles the first seeds of a universe larger and greater in scale than anything before it- and because of his actions, trillions of stars now all take part in one narrative- one purpose. As I stand alone in the vastness of space, this universe draws my attention. It is the first of the many that I visit. _

_Here I observe dozens of individuals, each one tied to each other, and each one sharing in one common destiny- yet they could not be more distant and varied. I arrive here to witness a being with power over lightning who calls himself a god, a man who can turn into a hulking beast, a boy who is searching for purpose in a world that is hunting him- but no Tony Stark. _

_I travel back eight years, back to a moment that is one of the greatest miracles in science since the internet. Captain Steve Rogers is pulled from his seven decade long slumber, and shoved into the world like a child into preschool. As look back forward into time- something changes. He does not crash the plane he was in, and he does not rest for decades. He lives a life with Margaret Carter, and they raise two children. _

_I return my gaze to the present, and the world has changed drastically. Metahumans are now under the supervision of the government, the Avengers are now a government run entity, James Barnes is dead, and Tony Stark is bitter and angry. Earth isn't the same as it was. For the first time, the multiverse is unbalanced, the future in jeopardy. I uncover multiple changes in the timeline as I look further. The cosmic cube that they call the tesseract was never recovered from the battle of New York, the soul stone is taken from it's place far earlier than it was meant to be, and the mind stone as well. _

_The fate of every universe now is unclear to me. I look into the future. A year from now- nothing. Ten years- still nothing. One hundred years from now- also nothing. As the ones who caused these paradoxes travel back to the future, for the first time in this universe's history, I intervene. I change the events in time back to how they were, making them reflect back to how they were before. They now reflect the timeline that they had before, and it allows these "heroes" to continue with their plan. _

_Yet as I look out into the future, I see that I have only delayed the intevitable. I still see nothing where there should be a future. I must turn my gaze elsewhere. _

* * *

_It's September 8th, 2019. I look on as lightning streaks through the Gotham sky, and a lone figure stands perched alone a top a statue in the shape of a gargoyle. He intrigues me. This is Bruce Wayne, or the Batman. I peer through his past, watching every last moment in his history. It is frightening how much in common he has with Adrian. The Bruce Wayne side of him, at least. The dark side of him, the one filled with regret, anger, and vengeance- I've only seen it once before, albeit in a much worse case. _

_I look to another region of this world, one that draws my attention very quickly. Themyscira. Here, thousands of feminine warriors train, hunt, and fight. They were created long ago, and given one final gift from this world's version of greek gods. Diana. That was her only name, until January, 1913, where she meets a rogue pilot named Steve Trevor. She poses incredible power, not unlike the other individual from the previous universe. But there's something else- something stronger in this world. But I don't know what. _

_I turn my attention to something else, something much more interesting than either of the previous individuals. A man running faster than light, faster than sound, faster than space- and faster than time. He travels back into the fabric of the universe, and changes something. Something so small and insignificant, something that should be so simple and personal. He tries to save his mother. This is Barry Allen, or the Flash. This alteration changes everything. When he goes back to his time, the world is not the same. Bruce Wayne's father is now Batman, Diana is at war with the king of the sea, and his abilities are gone. _

_He does his best to change this event, and succeeds, changing everything once again- only it is much closer to the world it was when he left it. Only this is not entirely his doing. I intervene midway through his travel back to his original timeline, and take one person out of his life: Wally West. This was the "Kid-Flash", whose absence changed the fabric of this world instantaneously. _

_As I search further into this world's history, I learn of a boy who came to this world from another universe, and returned to it after ten years. Perhaps this is the disturbance that is preventing me from viewing the future, or worse, the cause of a cataclysmic event. I travel once more. _

* * *

_It's 5 ABY, Lothal. _

_Ezra Bridger has traveled from one universe to another. Starting from a child, he was taken in by Bruce Wayne, trained, and he then returned to his original home. He hides his past away from everyone, including the closest thing he's ever had to family. Four years later, he sacrifices himself to save his home and his friends. However, he survives the sudden jump into hyperspace, and puts out a call to Bruce Wayne, who was in his debt, to look after his friends until he returns. _

_I notice something change once again, or- wait. No, that's just me. I reveal my presence to the maddest of the mad men of the previous world, and send him on a suicide quest- find this boy, and eliminate him. I notice this world has something the others do not- an energy called the Force. It makes it impossible for me to kill this boy without sending shock waves through out the galaxy, revealing my presence to every user of the Force in time._

_The individual I send is an infamous murderer known as The Joker. He arrives on Sullust via my teleportation capabilities. I watch as he wreaks havoc on Ezra Bridger's friends. Sabine Wren and Hera Syndulla in particular. He kills Sabine's brother, then walks into a military prison and surrenders. He then pays off the guards around his cell with an incredible amount of credits he obtained from Governor Tarkin while he had him hostage. This is when Bruce Wayne, or Batman, arrives. He discovers the Joker has escaped, but does not get a location._

_Later that night, the Joker goes to Sabine's residence and shoots her in the stomach in front of her mother. When Bruce learns of this, he notes that it seems incredibly familiar. He is right. Several events in his world have changed timelines around, erasing an event that occurred to Barbara Gordon that was nearly identical. Upon further investigation, Bruce discovers that the Joker took Sabine's mother, Ursa Wren, to an abandoned factory in the lower levels of Keldabe, the Mandalorian Capitol city. _

_Bruce and Hera arrive there, with Bruce chasing after the Joker and Hera freeing Ursa, who then fatally shoots the Joker. The maniac failed to do what I asked, but something I did not expect was that he would take photos of Sabine after she was shot, and he then sent them to Ezra through the holonet- driving him insane. As I look forward again, nothing has changed. I still do not see a future. _

* * *

_It's 34 ABY, Jakku_

_I look forward into the future of this universe, and I see a girl on a desert planet, where a large and decisive battle took place. The remains of the Empire can be seen everywhere here, fallen battleships and crashed starfighters. This girl is Rey. But that is all I can see. I do not see her past, and I can just barely glimpse her future. I can tell that she posses incredible power in the Force, stronger than anyone before her. _

_As I look to the future, from what little I can see, she is trained by Luke Skywalker. A fabled and powerful hero from the Galactic Civil War. It is here, however, that the multiverse became aware of my presence, and like the human body to a virus, it fought back. "I know who you are!" Skywalker__ had told me, "I know what you've done! Whoever you are, I'll-" It is too early for anyone to know who I am, but I show him the truth, if ever so vague._

_This Luke is younger, and he is training his padawans at an academy. However, even the wisest of Jedi can be broken. The order believed they understood the cosmos, but they could not be further from this truth. I show him what I have seen, the moments in time I have witness, moments so tiny and so fast- they can hardly be said to have occurred at all. I show him how meaningless their existence is, how meaningless everything is- and I break him. _

_He forgets I was ever there at all, but his mind snaps. He attempts to kill his padawan and nephew when he displays signs of darkness- but he only drives him further into the darkness. When Rey finds him, he is a shadow of the man he once was. It is here, however, something unexpected happens. _

_She manages to return him to the light, but in doing so, he sacrifices his life for her and the rest of the Resistance movement to live. This does uncover a single image of the future. And what I see interests me. So I pull back one final time, and into another universe._

* * *

_It's October 6th, 1985. I hover over the most disturbing and fascinating individual I have seen yet. She is surrounded by others- friends and family. This is Jane Hopper, or Eleven, as she is known among her friends. She is leaving town with Joyce Byers and her two sons. In doing this, she is ripping apart a connection between these children. But none of this is of significance to me. What is significant about this is Eleven. I detect something familiar in her genetic makeup. _

_There are strands of tachyons in her genes, just like in my own. This explains the source of her powers, but something's different- she was _born_ with them. This is fascinating, unprecedented, even. Tachyons are particles only found in the dimension of time, and they make up each moment in each time stream. I was infused with them due to an accident, but this girl has had them since she was born. She is the only other being in the multiverse that has access to time in such a way, yet she doesn't even know it yet. _

_Eleven and her friends all assume that her abilities only extend out to telepathy, but that could not be further from true. Within her is the strength to erase entire universes from existence, rewrite time, witness the very first moments of creation, and travel among the stars. And here I thought I was alone. One of the interesting things is that her powers seem to be slowly evolving, and since she was kept in containment for her entire upbringing, her mind was never developed the same way an average child was. And this leads her to only be able to embrace her abilities slowly, instead of all at once. Like me. _

_I look into her mind, and I can see that she thinks her powers are gone, but they are only evolving. Going through a metamorphoses, like a caterpiller to a butterfly. This is the reason I cannot see into the future. There are now to beings of equal power in the multiverse, instead of one- and like two supermassive black holes, they will one day collide, and destroy everything in their wake. _

_"So as I stand here, amidst my newfound knowledge and understanding of this vast cosmos, I am uncertain for the first time since Adrian clouded my vision. And you must understand, what I have to do- it is for the survival of life on every world, every star, and in every universe..." It's July 5th, 1985 on Earth. Nearly midnight as I watch the tiny dot that is the Earth twinkle in the night sky, before looking down at the man I have transported here, "...Hopper." _

_I transported the police chief here to gain information about his surrogate daughter, and in doing so, saved him from an untimely death. _ "You can't stand there and tell me," _He tells me, as I stair at him with blank eyes, _"That there are other worlds out there with superheroes and supervillains, and that _Star Wars _is real, and then threaten my daughter!"

_"If only you could only understand time as I do. __And you would see that the end...__" I mumble, as I've said countless times before. "...is only the **beginning**."_

* * *

**Don't worry, only this guy's POV will be in italics. Anyway, some of you know this guy, some of you don't. I will explain who he is in this story, but even still- go read Watchmen! I honestly can't stress enough how good that book is, and the movie's great too. Anyways, I have planned out this entire story on paper, and have given each universe equal time. So even if the universe you want to see isn't in one chapter, it will be in one of the next two. I am really excited to share this with everyone, and it is a semi-sequel to my last story under the STAR WARS REBELS tag. Called "Agent of Chaos." Anyways, thanks for reading, and please leave a review on the way out. I love hearing what everyone thinks... ...it feeds my ego. **

**Thanks!**

-MB


	2. This Time Tomorrow

_Where is she, god damn it? _ Peter Parker frantically forced his way through the colorful abyss he found himself in, electricity and small particles searing his skin each time he made physical contact with it. Something happened to him, something that ripped him from his family and friends. He was running from the Police when he tried to hide in a shed on top of an apartment building, but he was abushed by Frank freaking Castle.

He was shot six times with tranquilizer bullets, and he could tell the Punisher had no intention of killing him, but he didn't want to be found with a murdering pyschopath like him. So he kept running, he ran until his web shooters didn't work anymore. But then he found himself being followed by an F-18. That was when he knew it was all over- that is, until a blue lightning bolt came crashing down from the sky, and then he saw something- something awful.

Before him was Thanos. Kneeling on one knee before him, one half of his purple skin completely gone- leaving nothing but grey, charred muscle and bone. Steam was billowing off of him him, and his exposed eye looked down to him, "He- help... me..." He choked out, seemingly genuinely terrified, "I... saw..." A rigid and startling blue bolt of energy zipped out from the white nothingness, and pierced right through his chest- "..._god_."

The mad titan finally fell on his stomach, making the ground rumble as he made impact with the glassy floor. Peter's breathing quickened, his chest heaving and his eyes darting all around him nervously, noticing the white abyss being replaced with streams of what looked like stars, nebulas, and galaxies. As his gaze quickly shifted from galaxy to galaxy, he felt something hot and fine pierce his arm. He jumped at the sudden pain, looking down at the area where he was hit. A blue bolt of electricity slowly faded into the stream.

"What the..." He asked himself, looking down at his arm, only for him to notice his skin was starting to turn grey. Just like Thanos's. His heart rate quickened, as he looked around nervously, realizing what was happening to him. The gravity of each of the streams of space was pulling him in, each attempting to bring them into it's cluster of stars and planets. He couldn't stay here long.

As his skin slowly began to rot, he noticed that the images before him were changing- showing moments in time that looked obscure and random, except that each one showed someone he knew well. Ned, Flash, May, Happy, Tony, Pepper, and even Mr. Harrington. But no MJ. Why no MJ? He looked to Ned and rushed to the window into that moment in time, and through his fist into it, expecting to be met with the same glass-like texture he was standing on.

Instead, however, his fist went right through. There was a searing pain of about a dozen of the bolts of electricity, but he managed to force himself through the portal. Peter was instantly met with rain and wind, with orange energy exploding around him as he collapsed onto a grassy ground. He looked up to see Ned staring down at him, confused and shocked.

Ned was standing on a pathed path in Central Park, in a bright yellow rain jacket and blue jeans, and a smart phone in his hand that slowly fell out of his hand in bewilderment, "Ned!" Peter shouted, wincing in the burning pain of the energy around him, "Ned, take my hand please!"

"Wh- wha-" Ned stuttered, his eyes wide and his mouth on the floor.

"No time to explain, bud, just pull me out!" Peter forcefully stuck out his hand, his breathing heavy and forced. Ned still just stood there, staring at his suit like he'd never seen it before, "Ned! Do you understand me?"

"Wh- who are you?" He asked. Peter did a double take, did he have a mask on? He brought his hand up to feel around his face, but he felt nothing but the same facial features he'd had all his life.

"What do you mean?" Peter replied, his heart beginning to sink, "It's Peter! Peter Parker! Spider-Man!" Ned only stared at him blankly, as his mind went into over drive, this was Ned. He wouldn't be joking at a time like this. His Ned would've pulled him out the second he saw him. Ned wouldn't do this unless... unless... Realization slammed into Peter like a train that had it's breaks disabled, "Ned... do you know who Spider-Man is?"

Ned shook his head, "No." That was it. That was all the confirmation Peter needed.

He could feel the gravity beginning to pull him back, and as he looked at his hands he could see them begin to be lifted from the ground, "Ned, please just pull me through!" His friend- or, former friend tried to grasp his hand, but he phased right through it. "No." Peter whispered in horror, as he looked back at his friend, who looked back at him, as he was pulled back into the colorful abyss.

Peter was flung back onto the glassy surface he started at, and looked down at his body. His armor was beginning to collapse, and the skin under it was charred and grey. He was erased from his timeline somehow. Likely the same way Thanos had done during the Infinity War, as it had been named. He'd have to find someone who remembered him, someone who could pull him back through. And as he looked around, he realized how hard that was going to be.

* * *

**Elsewhere...**

He did it. The bastard actually did it. Adrian forced the messy stacks of paper off the corner of his desk, turning on his television set for the eighth time that day. It had been six years since Nixon and Castro were about to launch weapons of mass destruction at each other, and in the chaos and paranoia of an impending doomsday, Adrian was able to genetically engineer a monster.

He knew that the two countries would never find peace. They would have to be reminded how small and insignificant they were. There was only one way to do accomplish that... genocide. They would have to believe they were under attack from some alien creature from far away, a creature that would only live to destroy. Adrian launched development on this monster with four of the world's brightest minds, knowing that he would have to kill them too in the end.

When his beast was ready, he sent it to New York using an unstable teleportation system that caused anything it was used on to explode instantly. The monster arrived in New York, and caused a massive wave of destruction that killed every living soul in the city, and subsequently warranted the Soviet Union and the United States to put aside their differences to fight this common enemy. Adrian's plan worked. Now the problem was to keep it working.

Daniel Dreiberg, the former vigilante known as Nite Owl, and his crazy partner, Rorschach, arrived at Adrian's base in Antarctica about an hour and half after the incident. Dan was his friend, and he'd hoped that he'd understand. When Adrian told them what he'd done, Dan was shell-shocked, unwilling to accept the truth. Rorschach was quick to recognize the look in Adrian's eyes, something he had become quite good at, and the rage and lust for vengeance began to pool up inside him.

It wasn't until the two people Adrian was most looking forward to seeing arrived that things began to escalate. Laurie Jupiter, the compassionate and level-headed heroine known as Silk Spectre, still had tear tracks in her eyes from when she arrived back in New York minutes earlier. But emotionless as always, yet more intrigued than he'd ever been- was Jon Osterman, or Doctor Manhattan.

Jon was always told what he should be feeling in a given situation by the humans around him, since he had risen above the need for human emotion. He was the only person Adrian was even remotely concerned about, though he was actually the one who understood Adrian's plan first. Adrian remembered Jon's glowing white eyes staring at the television sets that lined the walls, staring at the faces of the people that died, as well as Nixon's address to the nation following the attack, and then he understood.

Jon explained to the others that humanity needed to be exposed to a horrible tragedy before they could recover, that the two opposing nations of the world must be united under one common goal in order for life to continue on Earth. Dan made sense of it quickly, and so did Laurie, but Rorschach... Rorschach was not keen on the idea. He left the facility and walked out into the snow, with the goal of returning to civilization and exposing the world to the truth about what happened.

He never got far. Jon was there to say a final goodbye to him before vaporizing the vigilante into nothing more than a bloody stain on the white snow. Jon visited Adrian in his quarters soon after, telling him that he was leaving their world behind to find new life- a new purpose. Adrian watched him leave, but his final words to him still haunted his dreams. _'Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends.' _He would only truly understand seven years later, when everything fell apart.

What do they call it? Irony? Yes, that's it. Because in Adrian's stupid belief that he would get the last laugh, he was blind to the true scheme that surpassed even his plan. And it was just as simple as mailing a journal to a journalist. Adrian never got the last laugh. It wasn't Laurie, it wasn't Dan or Jon, it wasn't even the man who called himself the _Comedian_, for christ's sake. No, it was Rorschach who got the last laugh.

What Adrian never knew about the lunatic in a fedora and trench coat was that he wrote everything he did down in a journal, and along with that, every detail of Adrian's scheme written in the final pages. Rorschach, or Walter Kovacs, sent the journal to his favorite right-wing newspaper, which then published the entirety of the journal in the next issue, and across the next few years, it would begin to become more and more credible.

Now, in December of 1992, seven years after the destruction of New York city, seven years of undisturbed peace, the nukes were being prepped again, and Adrian was hunted. The world once looked up to him, calling him 'Ozymandias, king of kings' and 'the world's smartest man'. Now he was satan incarnate. The world was right back to the way it was before the incident, and there was nothing more to do than pray that god would come back and save them.

And no, they do not mean that metaphorically. Adrian, or Ozymandias, realized very quickly that Doctor Manhattan was the only one who could save the world from it's imminent doomsday, and the clock was ticking very close to midnight. With little time, Adrian gathered the genetic make up of Jon's being, pooling it all together into an energy signature that he could track. Sure enough, he now had an inter-dimensional bread crumb trail to follow back to Jon. Back to god.

He'd modified Dan's Owl-Ship, or Archie, as everyone called it, to be able to travel through space and time, and therefore into other universes. Upon further research, he realized Jon had changed many of the universes he'd visited from their original form, even erased certain individuals from the timeline. There was an insane killer from a universe not unlike their own that had been sent to a universe of space ships and laser swords, a young boy in another that was taken out of existence entirely, a bunch of idiots who were now traveling through time in their own universe, all caused by him. But there was something else Jon was after, something powerful. And he was going to find out what it was. One way or another.

* * *

**Somewhere in time... **

"C'mon, where are you, MJ?" Peter frantically murmured as he wandered aimlessly through the... well, he didn't even know what it was. He could see so many moments in his life around him. The air port, the cargo plane, Titan, the final battle against Thanos, but none of them included MJ. He'd tried everyone but her. Happy, May, Ned, Flash, Doctor Strange, Fury, everyone who could possibly remember him that was still living.

There was something almost haunting about this situation when he thought about it, because this was by no means an accident. He looked down at his arm, which was now nearly entirely gray and faded, and could feel his mortality prod him for the first time since Titan. He felt small and alone. No traces of civilization anywhere around, him nothing familiar, no warmth or comfort of home.

He rushed through time, and finally found something he could use... the decathalon. Yes, that would work. He looked to the table, seeing all the familiar faces. Flash, Cindy, Liz, Ned... wait... and a red head he didn't recognize. He heard them call her Mary Jane, but she corrected them to call her MJ. But it wasn't Michelle. Then it dawned on him... he couldn't find her because there was nothing _to_ find.

She must have been erased too. And he was alone. "No..." Peter mumbled, his breath hitching, his eyes pooling with water, as he crumpled to his knees and sobbed. She was gone. His anchor was gone. "WHY?" He shouted up at nothing, "Why me? God, why?!" His tears fell from his eyes, dripping against the glassy floor, as he clenched his fingers tightly, rising up to his feet one last time.

There was one more person he needed to see.

His chest was beginning to fade now, the flakes of his very existence starting to float off of his shoulders. _If I have to go... _He thought, _At least I get to go with the stars. _The Spider-Man hobbled toward a final window, one that he had seen but not been of any use to him. Until now. At the end. He looked inside, seeing iron walls and steel floors to match, the sparks of electricity flying from a man's blow torch, and the familiar sound of repulsors sounding.

He took a deep breath and reached inside, his form crumbling as the orange energy of space began to tear him apart piece by piece, he looked up to the man before him, a small spark of hope lighting in his chest as his head moved upwards, but it was extinguished the moment he saw his face, "Mr. Stark," Peter said, weakly picking himself up as his body began to destroy itself. "I know you don't remember me, and I know you want to, but I need to say some things," He was in the past somewhere, probably a lab in Malibu, "Thank you for everything you've done for me, you gave me my chance to stand up for people who couldn't do it for themselves..."

"I... I..." Tony stuttered, as he watched Peter's form begin to tear itself apart, almost like a pill desintigrating in water.

"Thank you for showing me what it meant to be a hero, and for being there when no one else was." Peter told him as he began to fade into the clutches of time, "I will always remember you." He guessed this was a fitting end. And it was all he could ask for. And he closed his eyes, and welcomed the end.

* * *

"PETER?" Peter opened his eyes in shock as he felt an arm grab him, pulling him back into the world of the living, as the searing pain faded away finally, and he hit the ground before him, "Pete? Oh god, how could I ever forget you?" Tony grasped the boy's shoulders tightly, a look of confusion and no small amount of shame.

Peter blinked a few times, "Y- You remembered me?" He felt over his chest, noticing the color had returned to his body, and he was physically whole again. All the times he thought he was going to die, all the times the feeling of despair came over him, and yet a man he'd known only a few years rather than his own Aunt or best friend remembered him.

"I... yeah... it's all coming back to me now..." Tony took his hands off of Peter's shoulders, scratching his beard, "How did I forget you? What was that?"

Peter got to his feet and looked around- this was definitely _not _Tony's lab. "I don't know," Peter answered plain and simple, "What year is it?" He had expected to be dumped some place in time before the blip, but he wasn't so sure anymore.

"Er, I actually don't know," Tony answered, gesturing to the massive structure they were in, "Listen, I... I don't think this is Earth." Peter looked at Iron Man curiously, clearly he hadn't been killed as he was led to believe. As he observed their surroundings, he noted that they were in a massive open area. The floors were- or rather, clearly once were- a sleek black color with white accents around them, but it was rusted and damaged now. And there were piles and piles of sand everywhere he looked.

The room was massive, at least the size of a football field, and there were slots that lined the walls, as if some kind of air craft was meant to be parked there. It looked a lot like one of those ships from _Star Wars_. Or, maybe it _was_... he couldn't make any assumptions right now, "So, I get erased from the time line, and you get transported to another world... this isn't good."

Tony shook his head, "Listen, when we went back in time to get the stones, did we change something? Was it us that wrote you out?"

"No," Peter answered quickly, "No, this was some else. Some one _much _more powerful than anyone we know of." He told Tony about his encounter with Thanos, and how the titan had said he'd seen "god". "It wasn't you. And I wasn't the only one erased, either. Whoever this was, they did this for a reason, somewhere out there, we're being **Watched**."

* * *

_Mama, ooh_  
_Didn't mean to make you cry_  
_If I'm not back again this time tomorrow_  
_Carry on, carry on_  
_As if nothing really matters_

_-Queen_

* * *

**K, I know there has been a long delay between chapters, and I know some of you from my previous story are looking forward to seeing where that goes. Next chapter, I promise. Along with some other stuff too. This is also an original story this time, it's not a reskin of The Killing Joke or anything, and while it will have elements of other stories thrown in, it won't be a direct adaptation. And I am going to try to give each of the fandoms a fair share of time to shine, but there may be some spacing between them, especially since the Watchmen side of things is instrumental to the plot, so you'll see a lot of them. **

**Leave a review on your way out, it always helps me to know what people think, and will result in quicker uploads. Thanks for reading!**

-MB


	3. My Dear Man

**Lothal, 22:30**

The darkness had always been the Batman's ally when chasing after a criminal, the sanctuary that he could retreat to whenever he needed it. That's what he taught Dick, it's what he taught Barbara, and Tim, Jason, and Damian. Unfortunately, it was also what he taught Ezra Bridger. He knew he was somewhere, down there, lurking in the crowd and shadows. Ezra was once his student, long before Kanan ever took him in. He taught the young boy everything he knew, and with the aid of the force, he would make for an incredible hero.

Sadly, that destiny was taken away by The Joker, the monster under the bed. It had been about thirty-eight days since the clown was shot dead by Ursa Wren, a Mandalorian from Krownest, and the mother of Tristan and Sabine Wren, both of whom had been tormented by him, Tristan being killed and Sabine being paralyzed. It nearly took the breath out of Bruce's lungs the minute he saw his nemesis die, almost like a phase of his life was ended in an instant.

There was also something incredibly familiar about the nature of Sabine's paralysis, the incident, the manner of which she'd been shot, the unexplained lens-cap found at the scene, it all seemed disturbingly familiar. He would have to look into that later, because right now, the only threat on their hands was Ezra himself. The Joker's last masterstroke was that he some how found out where Ezra was exiled to, and sent him something that changed him for the worst. Now there were attacks on multiple rebel bases, Mandalorian compounds, and even what was left of Imperial Factories, but they were all done with the surgical precision of the Bat-Family, but with the twisted and horrific nature that the Joker brought to the table.

Sullust, Keldabe, and level 1313 of Coruscant were all places which the attacks were most frequent. It took a lot of beating, interrogating, and hunting to narrow the boy's location down to one specific planet- Lothal. It seemed too obvious at first, but that's exactly the type of thing Bruce would look for in a site for a base.

"Orrelios, what do you see?" Bruce spoke into his gauntlet from a top of a building in Lothal's capital city, the rain bouncing off of his shoulders, and the thunder outlining his form in the dark blue sky.

Hera had recommended they enlist Garazeb Orrelios, a former member of the Ghost Crew, to help in the effort to locate the young padawan, "Just a whole lot of civies," The Lasat answered, with the slightest him of dread in his voice. Bruce was crouched a top of one Lothal's taller buildings, though it barely gave him a view of the whole city. He had figured out that Ezra was using a transmitting device that he gave him years ago, and since it was developed by Wayne Enterprises, it could be tracked, "You sure he's here?"

"Positive," The detective answered, but he wasn't able to pin-point an exact location, he only knew that the signal was coming from inside the city somewhere. He switched radio channels, "Sabine, do you see anything?"

"Nope, just static." Sabine's voice came. Since she'd been shot she was bound to the ship, and since it was an actual bullet that shattered her spinal cord, the process of getting her ability to walk back was a slow one, "Wait..." Bruce could hear the computers lock onto something, and the clacking of the keyboard was loud and rushed, almost panicked.

"What?" Zeb asked, switching to their channel.

There was a silence for a moment, "I've got something, patching you through to a security feed now. This is weird." Seconds later, a message came through on Bruce's gauntlet comms. It was a video file. It looked to be the security feed from a camera in a grand (as Lothlian houses go) mansion of some kind, not quite as beautiful as the Manor, but still very clearly a home of the wealthy.

Bruce watched closely for a moment, before a man entered the frame. He was wearing Earth-like clothes, a black beanie, combat pants, a SWAT vest, and a balaclava. He strolled across the wooden floor and pushed open a steel door at the end of the hallway, and an obscured voice came from the room inside, turning into shouts as the door closed.

"Sabine, was that who I think it was?" Zeb asked, his voice was heavy and filled fear.

"Who?" Bruce asked, but they both ignored him. It was clear they both understood who was the on the other side of that door.

"Rex," Sabine gasped, "The governor's palace, go!" She yelled. Bruce stood up in a flash and fired his grapnel launcher towards the palace, zipping off into the night.

* * *

**New York Penitentiary**

**2:32 AM EST, November 2nd, 1992 **

_'I regret to inform you that Russian forces have invaded Poland, and despite unrelenting requests for a cease-fire, we have received no responses from the Soviet Union.' _Idiots, all of them. The world should have seen this coming a thousand miles away, and for whatever reason- they didn't. They were saying the nukes would fall within the hour, now. Things were worse. Much, _much _worse. What Dan was doing here, he couldn't tell you, both because he would probably be killed if he did, and even still- he wasn't sure himself.

_'God help us all.' _The news station shut off suddenly, the only sense of normalcy in the building cut off as the prison was once again filled with shouts of anger and confusion from the inmates. The guards were gone. They'd been evacuated hours ago, and all the scum-bags and cockroaches were left in their cells to rot just before their skin would be seared off their bones by nuclear war. It was a wonderful thought, quite frankly.

It wasn't like Dan had grown bitter in his years away... well, it was, but that wasn't why he relished the idea. He relished it because some of the people locked up in here were the worst of the worst. The deadliest of the deadly. And some of them were the same people who murdered Hollis Mason, an old man and the first Nite Owl, using the framed pictures and busts of what was left of his days as a hero, and never got what they deserved.

Dan, the former Nite Owl was currently perched a top of a guard tower on the west side of the prison, watching through the windows as the crazed inmates desperately tried to reach through the bars to reach a single set of keys that was laying smack in the middle of the hallway, just out of reach. Rorschach would've loved it. That sounds bad, yes. And under other circumstances, he would've freed some of them, but they were on the clock.

Unfortunately, age was beginning to crack at his once strong-demeanor. He was now in his late forties, and was just getting used to a normal life when everything came crashing down. He knew that Rorschach- _Walter_\- kept a journal of everything that he did, but quite frankly it seemed unimportant to him during all the craziness that was going on during their little adventure in '85, but it did cross his mind in '91.

He got in touch with Adrian shortly after, asking him if he found Rorschach's journal when he was killed. There was a long pause on the line, before Adrian choked out; "A_ journal?_" They spent the next few months frantically trying to hunt it down, but it was too late. A break through discovery came in during June of 1991, linking the "Kraken", as it had been named- to Adrian's genetic engineering program. It all went downhill from there. Laurie found out very soon after, and shouted at Dan for not telling her earlier, calling Rorschach a stupid, crazy, ignorant son of bitch, before storming out of the house in pure and utter rage.

He couldn't argue with her that Rorschach was crazy, and sometimes ignorant, but he was far from stupid. Nearly a month later, Adrian appeared inside their house at the middle of the night, flipping through the magazine that had just came in. He said he'd found a way to find Jon and attempt to convince him to return to this world to save it from itself. Dan knew that Laurie would be against this idea, and he wasn't wrong. She opted out of joining him and Adrian on their quest, choosing to stay with her mother.

Dan reluctantly complied with Adrian's plan, and went with him to pick up _Archie _(the Owl-Ship) and the rest of Dan's old vigilante gear. It didn't take Adrian very long to implement a system into the Owl-Ship's main frame that could track Jon through space and time. It almost made Dan ashamed of himself, he was supposed to be the mechanic of the group- at least- that's what Hollis used to say.

Before long footsteps came from behind him, and as he whirled around, he was met with Adrian standing there with something in his hands, "We're ready."

* * *

"We ready?" Bruce asked, as he pressed his shoulder up against the door with Zeb on the opposite side of him. The Lasat nodded in agreement, clutching his rifle close to his chest, ready to open fire on whatever they found inside, "Sabine, we're in position."

"Alright, I'll see you on the other side." Sabine went radio silent as the sound of the Batwing flying over head could be heard. Bruce still wasn't entirely sure he should be letting her fly the thing, but he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

As Bruce looked to Zeb, the Lasat placed a single charge on the crack between the doors, "One..." Zeb growled, switching his blaster to stun.

Batman clenched a smoke bomb in his palm, ready to breach, "Two..."

"Three!" Zeb yelled as the charge went off and they rounded the corner into the room, but they were met with a rather surprising sight. The was a slender, dark figure tied upside-down from the ceiling, his form casting a long shadow across the room. "Is- is that..."

"Ezra." Bruce growled as he approached the body, examining it closely. He was dressed in black robes that were stained with blood, his hands and face were unnaturally pale, and on the floor was a cowl not unlike the one Bruce wore. Ezra had been driven insane by the Joker, he had been trained by the Batman, and was extremely well-trained in the force, yet when the detective looked at the boy's face, it was bruised and battered, like he had been beaten into submission.

Zeb looked horrified by the scene, a far cry from Bruce's stoic and serious demeanor. As Bruce looked at Ezra's face, he noticed that the boy was still breathing, silently thanking whoever... or _whatever _was watching them from above. "Bats," Zeb mumbled, picking something off of the ropes Ezra was tied up with, "A note."

Bruce moved over to Zeb and peered down at the note, the only thing written was what looked like a rorsch- _CRASH! _Zeb went flying to the ground, his rifle clattering to the floor as Bruce dove to his left, attempting to grab the rifle as Sabine's voice came through the comm, "Batman! What do you see?"

He was inches away from the rifle as it suddenly slid away, and Bruce crumpled to the ground. He rose up quickly with his fist raised, only to be met with the blaster's barrel in his face, and a man in a brown trench coat, fedora, and white face mask behind it. "_Hurm. See a bat._" _BANG!_

* * *

_But my dear man,  
Reality is only a Rorschach ink-blot,  
__You know. _

_-Alan Watts_

* * *

**Please forgive me if you have no idea what the f*ck is going on. Everything will become clear soon enough. Anyway, sorry for the wait between chapters, but I am very busy with school starting again. On the flip side, I am trying to write longer chapters than before, and hopefully make them more complex than before. For the next chapter, I will be introducing the Stranger Things characters (Or Eleven, at least) into the story, give a little more context to the "antagonist" of the story, and look into what's going on in the MCU right now. **

**Leave a review on your way out if you enjoyed, since it always helps to have feedback on this. Until next time.**

-MB


	4. The Greatest Trick The Devil Ever Pulled

**Mars, 8:34 PM EST (Earth Time) **

"Why the hell am I here?" Hopper huffed, his palms covered in the orange grains of sand that covered the martian surface, as he stared up at the strange being before him. At first, he thought he'd gone to hell, and he wouldn't be surprised if he actually had, but he began to understand very quickly that he was very much alive, but also that there was something else at play here.

Given any other situation, he wouldn't have been able to take this guy seriously, given the fact that he was _naked _and all. It was the fact that he was glowing that made him think twice about pissing him off. _"You seem unwilling to take an educated guess," _ The man said, staring up into the night sky, the only light around them was that of the stars and his very skin. The blue man turned around, his eyes pure white, and the icon of a hydrogen atom seared onto his forehead. _"It's fascinating how you humans seem to deny every obvious truth that is presented before you, believing it is too simple to be true." _

"Forgive me for second guessing myself, your highness," The Police Chief huffed, standing up weakly, as the being watched him blankly. Of all the things that Hopper had seen in the past few years, this had to be the strangest. "What are you anyway?" He asked, pretending to care, "Some kinda god?"

_"You're stalling." _

"Oh, screw you."

_"I understand." _The man said, looking off to his side, as if something else had caught his attention, _"I once was like you. Naive. I thought that if I waited long enough, things would change, or otherwise alter in my favor." _He seemed sympathetic in that moment, it was strange. Of course, there was only one thing that he could possibly be here for. _  
_

It wasn't like it was that much of a surprise, there were lots of enemies that he'd made over the past couple years, particularly that of the supernatural like. "What do you want with her?" Hopper groveled, causing the man's head to snap up, as if he'd regained interest in their conversation. "Why are you so interested in her?"

The blue man stood there for a moment, staring at him silently, _"Yes, he killed Blake and half New York." _Hopper raised an eyebrow in confusion, before muscular smurf blinked, his expression changing to one of mild confusion, _"Apologies, something has just changed. Tachyons can be quite irking sometimes." _

"Tack-what nows?" Hopper asked.

_"Adrian... yes, of course." _The being mumbled, almost like he was talking to someone else entirely, _"I have another matter to attend to, but I will return in five hours, six minutes, and fifty-two seconds... or, at least I think I will. Things are getting increasingly..." _

"Insane?"

_"...less-boring." _ The man said, looking up to the stars, his eyes fixated on one particular spot, _"When I return, we will discuss your... daughter." _Before Hopper could reply, a surge of bright blue energy enveloped them both, blinding him. It was loud for a moment, the sounds of cities, voices, cars, planes, and infinitely many other sounds blared loudly, only for it all to disappear just as quickly as it appeared, and the man was gone.

* * *

**Hell's Kitchen, New York  
****2:30 AM **

_Things have gotten worse. So much worse. It's almost like after Thanos, god turned his back on us, leaving us to die to our climate change and gang wars. I look down onto the streets and I see dozens of groups of people, each with their own agenda, attacking each other with bats, knives, and even guns. People began to think the end was coming, and in that madness, all the crazies came out. You had ANTIFA and the KKK killing each other in the streets, both claiming it was for their respective party's benefit, you had the Italians and the Irish firing .50 caliber sniper rifles at each other from across town (No Man's Land, as it has been so fondly named), and just for good measure, Frank Castle was running around in there somewhere._

_Politicians are more divided than ever, some claiming the decimation was a sign of jesus's second coming, and another saying it was the universe finally revealing it's true power to us. Either of them could be right, or both of them could be wrong. We had bring him back, we had to bring back god. Even if it means forcing him back, kicking and screaming, because maybe we don't deserve it. _

_That's coming from a blind catholic boy, by the way. Albeit one that has fallen very far from the tree. _

"Damn." Foggy said, half laughing at the paper he had in his hands. Matthew Murdock sat across from him in their darkened office, the one that they'd purchased soon after Fisk went down. Karen was out chasing a lead she'd gotten on a case, interviewing cops, examining crime scenes- she loved that sort of thing. Foggy had been handling all the legal stuff when Matt had asked him to proof read the first chapter or so of the book he's been writing.

"What?" Matt smirked, lacing his fingers together, "Too much?" After all the things Matt had seen, all the people who died on his watch, he felt like it was an obligation of his to tell people what was happening to the world from his point of view. From _Daredevil's _point of view. Even if that point of view was... rather violent. Matt was careful to make sure that it felt plausible that a blind catholic lawyer could know the things he mentions in the book.

Foggy shook his head, lowering the paper from his eyes to look at his partner, "Its... just a little intense." Matt chuckled, leaning back in his chair.

"These are intense times Foggy, and intense times require intense truths." The man without fear replied, to which Foggy grunted in agreement. It had been roughly eight months since Fisk had been locked up... or, it would've been if the decimation hadn't happened. Matt and Karen had been erased, leaving Foggy on his own, and he was forced to return to his family's butcher shop to make end's meet, and even then, only his brother could bear to continue working at the shop, since the decimation ripped away his cousins and his father.

Foggy nodded, clearly painfully aware of how small both of them were in the grand scheme of things. Even with Matt's superhero life as the Devil of Hell's Kitchen, they were two small fish in a big pond compared to the Avengers. Matt came back to life just outside of what was once the Avenger's tower, now being sold to some business man. The world was drastically different from what he remembered, the streets were trashed, traces of snow covered the pavement, not even mentioning the street art thrown up around every street corner.

"Sure," Foggy said, his mind deep in thought, "I just feel like this whole situation with the riots and the protests is rubbing off on all of us. And not in a good way." He was stating the obvious, everyone figured this out, but only a few were willing to speak openly about it. "So did you hear the news? About Spider-Man?" Foggy asked, catching Matt's attention.

"No, what happened?" Matt asked, at this point, everyone was losing their minds over the webslinger. All the school girls wanted to date him, the guys wanted to hang out with him, and the older guys (the same ones Matt has to deal with) wanted him arrested.

His partner pressed his hand to his eyes, "How do you not know these things, Matt? It's like every time some knowledge-bomb drops from the press drops, I have to tell you about it."

Matt sighed, "I've been couped up in here for twelve hours straight, Foggy. And it's not like I can just _look_ at my phone."

Foggy shrugged his shoulders, but then answered, "That Mysterio guy released a video from the incident in London a few weeks ago, and it apparently Spider-Man was the one controlling those drones." Matt did a double take, that didn't seem right. The wall-crawler was clearly a teenager, and he hung out with the Avengers. Nothing gets by them, not even Daredevil's antics. "And they revealed his name too. Like, his real one."

"Holy shit."

"Yeah. He's just some kid from Queens, named Peter Parker." Foggy said, staring at his friend's famous poker-face. Matt knew he was doing it, and he knew Foggy knew he was doing it, but it was something he did out of habit, "So... I was thinking, since he's a little on the lower-income side..."

"No." Matt answered, making Foggy throw his hands up in the air.

"You serious? Imagine if _you _got unmasked like that! You got me and you have Karen, along with all the legal knowledge we have. Who's this guy got?" Matt looked at him incredulously, "Okay, maybe he's not _entirely _alone, but you know what I mean." He did know what he meant. In fact, he really did want to help this kid. And he was fairly certain they could win any cases that came against him, but that would attract a lot of attention. And attention isn't exactly a great way to keep his _other _life a secret.

"Let's say we do this, and we win. What then? The world still knows who he is." Matt said, "And we get a lot of unwanted press, from all over the world. You do realize you are suggesting we represent an _Avenger _here, don't you?" Foggy placed something on the table, and judging from the sound and vibrations the table made, it was a tape. Security footage from Fisk's penthouse the night he was arrested. Matt sighed, and Foggy raised his brow at him, "Oh, screw you. Fine, we'll do it."

Foggy pumped his fist, "Alright! Let's win this bitch!" Matt smirked at his friend's enthusiasm, and was pretty happy with the way the conversation ended as well- not that he would tell him that. There was a funny thing about being a catholic blind man who pretended to be the devil and beat up homicidal criminals- it was that you were a catholic blind man who pretended to be the devil and beat up homicidal criminals. But along with that counter-intuitive personality, came several admirable (or näive, depending on how you looked at it) qualities. One of those was that you had a soft spot for helpless individuals with hopeless cases. "Alright, so if this Parker kid went to-

_-I mean, what's so funny? I don't get it. Somebody explain it to me!-_

-att! Matt?" Foggy shouted, making Matt leap out of his seat in surprise. What was that? Foggy was standing on the other side of the table two seconds ago, and now he was only three feet away from him.

"What the..." His heart was beating very quickly, his mind racing at the sudden change in the environment, from something as large as flower pot that was on a cabinet a few minutes ago now disappearing, to being as subtle as a pen moved a few milimeters to the right.

It was almost like the world had cosmetically changed, with certain objects moving or being erased entirely, "Matt? You okay?" Foggy seemed like he hadn't noticed anything, like nothing had changed at all.

"I- Spider-Man- we were just..."

"Wait what?" Foggy asked, as Matt looked at him strangely, "What's a _Spider-Man_?"

* * *

_The greatest trick  
The Devil ever pulled was convincing the world  
He didn't exist._

_-Roger Klint _

* * *

**Got this done quicker than expect. Hope you're all enjoying this. Figured I'd insert Daredevil into the story because I needed someone else to be aware of the changes to MCU timeline. I was explain why he was the outlier in a world of people who forgot Spider-Man in the next chapter he's in, but for now- the next chapter with delve into where Spidey and Tony are right now, continue with Dan and Adrian's journey, and visit the DC universe. **

**Trust me, I know this seems like a bunch of abstract storylines all mixed together- but I promise you they will all tie-in to one another soon enough, and you will see all the characters together before long, just stay with me. Leave a review if you enjoyed, and I should have a new chapter posted soon enough (especially if you guys review. Plz) Thanks for reading! **

-MB


	5. A Man Of Wealth

**Unknown Location  
34 ABY **

This god damned sand seemed to stretch on forever. Tony was no stranger to desert environments, but this was ridiculous. As he stared down at the monitor of the makeshift controller he'd crafted using what he could salvage from what was left of his armor, he couldn't see anything but the curling tan hills glistening in the harsh sunlight. He hadn't even seen any rocks or even the slightest signs of vegetation- this planet was quite clearly dead.

Just looking down at this scout drone was beginning to drive him insane, the only thing that kept him from losing it completely was that he had someone to keep him company. Peter had decided to explore the rest of the ship, something Tony wasn't able to do due to his armor being completely destroyed by the power of the infinity stones. It was strange- Parker said it had been months since the battle with Thanos had taken place, but for Tony it had only been about fourteen hours. At least, that's what he thought. Time was weird in the desert.

Another strange thing about this particular desert is that the sand seemed to be made of a completely foreign material, in the short time he'd been here, Tony had discovered at least two dozen new elements, and none of them were on the periodic table. But despite that, the most intriguing part of this area was the crashed ship itself, it looked vaguely familiar somehow- like he'd seen it before somewhere.

Peter said it was a Star Destroyer from _Star Wars_, and while Tony had dismissed that possibility, half the ship was covered by the sand, and what little he could see of it bore an uncanny resemblance to the fictional ship. And with all the crazy things that had happened in the past few years, anything was possible. The air grew strangely thinner ever few hours or so, and the temperature dropped ever so slightly, meaning nightfall was close, then they could venture out themselves. Their bodies weren't built for heat like this.

The familiar sound of one of Peter's wrist-mounted web shooters echoed from above, his form casting a shadow over the ground in front of where Tony was sitting. "Anything?" The former leader of the Avengers asked without looking up from the controller.

"Yeah, this is a Star Destroyer, Mr. Stark," said Peter as he landed on the floor softly. It was very clearly darker now, the sky was turning to an elegant mixture of orange and violet, and the heat was noticeably relenting, "I think we're in _Star Wars_." Tony cast him a doubtful look, but it only furthered Parker's point, "Oh c'mon, is it really the craziest thing you've ever heard? In fact, at this point we should be expecting this."

He had a point there, "Maybe- and that's a big maybe- you're right. No matter how much I hate to admit it." Peter snorted at that. God, how did he wind up here? Tony looked back at the controller, noticing that the temperature was low enough for them to venture outside, "Alright, scavenger hunt's over. Time for you to find out what desert life is like."

* * *

**Metropolis  
****7:04 PM**

It was insane how much the world could change in just a matter of months. After Bruce left on his little adventure in another universe, Lex Luthor developed a new hologram projection system using assets he'd acquired from Wayne Enterprises's Applied Sciences Division- Bruce's disappearance left the company in the hands of a bunch of greedy board members, which created problems for the League and everyone else on the planet. The system was used to create several life-like holograms of various enemies of the Justice League, such as Darkseid, Doomsday, the Anti-Moniter, Braniac, Metallo, and even minor ones like the Joker.

Everyone thought it was the greatest threat they'd ever faced, and with Bruce gone, they had no idea they weren't real. Dozens of heroes arrived in Star City when Lex sent out the projections- Wonder Woman, the Flash, the Green Lanterns, Cyborg, Aquaman, Question, Black Canary, Green Arrow, and of course, Superman. The holograms were made to seem like they were physical objects, so they responded to hits and blows, making it seem like there was a middle distance.

When the dust settled, and Star City was nearly leveled, Lex turned off the projections- revealing it had all been a hoax. The entire League knew it was Lex, but no one cared. At least, the public didn't. There was no direct proof linking Lex to the holograms, and instead of attempting to convict him, they turned against the Justice League. It was only about a week before Superman disappeared, seemingly out of thin air, leaving the world without it's first line of defense.

Barry knew something was wrong about the situation, but no one believed him. They told him that the public was simply tricked by a shroud of smoke and mirrors that was deployed by Luthor, that they needed to find out how to stop him before he did something else drastic. It was around this time that Barry went to visit Bruce, if only for a little while. The speedster said they met in a bar of some kind in the other universe, and discussed the state of the world and what Bruce was doing there in the first place.

While the detective didn't actually tell him (because of course he wouldn't), he did say he thought he'd be done there soon enough. That clearly wasn't true either. Barry brought him a strange object that had been recovered from the Watch Tower- one that was eerily similar to the one that had turned up in the Batcave a few months earlier- a yellow smiley face pin with a blood splat on it.

It was obviously a sign that there was something supernatural about the situation- but as to what it was- well, that was the question. Barry returned to Earth without Bruce, which was probably for the best- since Gotham had turned on the Batman already. That was why things had become so difficult, and that was what Dick's mind had been lingering on for the past few weeks.

It wasn't that he blamed Bruce for making his job as Nightwing much harder, but he did think that he certainly wasn't helping. Nightwing began to represent Gotham just as much as he represented Blüdhaven, which meant lots and lots of travelling with very little free time. Barry was still combing through the speed force with his friend and partner-in-crime, Wally West- or Kid-Flash. They were looking for any disturbances in the time stream that could indicate outside intervention from a cosmic force of some kind, but their search had turned up fruitless.

This wasn't because of the fact that they couldn't find any strange anomalies- but because they found _a lot _of them. It was almost like the entire history of their universe had been fabricated- changed by someone or some_thing_\- and it was clearly done intentionally. There were heroes that no one even remembered, like a group that pre-dated the Justice League by more than a decade- it was called the Justice Society of America.

Regardless, Superman's disappearance had shook the world to it's core, and was no doubt a result of the battle in Star City. The nation was divided, people were killing each other in the streets, wars had broken out all over the world, even one between Britain and Russia, which resulted in both countries' governments being utterly destroyed. Britain was the only one that was able to come back, but there were still problems, like an anarchist leader who was wreaking havoc on the new government- one that was so bad they were even saying he might be the devil incarnate.

That was one of the hundreds of examples of terrorism throughout the world right now, but even now, with all the power the League still had- they were facing the worst foe they had ever encountered- _politics. _

* * *

**Hawkins, Indiana  
October 12th, 1985  
11:59 PM**

_Why? _wondered the satire of a man that was Steve Harrington, _Why do I have to do this? _It very well could be the hardest thing he's ever had to do, of all the monsters he'd faced, of all the times he'd stared into death's cold eyes to help save his friends, this was different. This was the one creature that broke him. Drove him insane, revealed things to him that his brain could never comprehend, and yet- it didn't come from the upside down.

No, this one came from just down the street, "-so then it went like- _My name is Oswald-ius, links-and-blinks-_ like jeez, lady, I'm only ten!" Erica Sinclair. God dammit.

"Uh-huh..." Steve mumbled, rubbing his eyes with his gloved fingertips. He was only half listening- or actually quarter-listening- to whatever she had just said. She was constantly talking about how her teacher made them read stuff that was clearly made for adults and high schoolers, which was definitely a problem, but only because _he _had to listen to it on the way back from picking her up after Girl Scouts.

Lucas had decided to pull a fast one on him and told his mom Steve Harrington could take his sister to and from the scouts, which of course was true, but it most definitely was not at all beneficial. It was almost like the girl had no idea how talkative she was, often times they went entire hours where she would just spew a bunch of nonsense with Steve retaining none of it, "I mean my brother is into all those stories that those old guys liked to write," She continued, "But it's only because of that game he loves."

She was also the embodiment of irony, because she loved _that game _too. He could pretty much see the edge of that _Monster Manual _or whatever poking out of the side. He pushed through each passing moment, since the girl's constant babbling clearly wasn't stopping any time soon. He couldn't catch a break, could he? First he loses it with his girlfriend, who then went and dated Jonathan Byers (which she kind of already had been at one point), the next time he finds someone he likes it's someone who's into girls. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but god damn.

He used to have girls throwing themselves at him, but now he was reduced to nothing more than a bus-boy at an ice cream shop. How he wished those days would- "Hey!" Steve mentally slapped himself in the face and turned his attention back to the real world, taking in his surroundings. When did he get here? "We're at my house, nerd." Erica snarked, earning a mocking face from him.

"Alright, kid," He mumbled, rubbing his eyes, "Let's get you inside." He approached the door with the spare key he'd been given and unlocked it, opening it into the dark house. It was beyond him why her parents thought she was responsible enough to get herself ready for bed when they were all asleep.

"See you tomorrow, Stephen." Erica mused, practically skipping inside her house.

He rolled his eyes at the sound of the name he loathed so much, "Yeah, yeah. Hope you get that whole thing with Oswald-uis or whatever sorted out." She looked at him strangely, almost like he had Tourette's, "What?" He groaned.

She looked at him for a moment longer, "_Ozymandias_. You mean Ozymandias." Steve rolled his eyes and prepared to say something snarky, but she slammed the door shut on him, "Later, nerd!" She yelled from inside.

It always seemed like she got the last laugh. That was _his _job. Steve sighed and turned around, tugging the collar up on his jacket and preparing to return to house, "I admire her education," A slightly British voice came from behind. Steve whirled around to see a blonde-haired man with bright blue eyes standing at the foot of her yard. He wore a black suit with a purple handkerchief tucked neatly into his chest pocket, and a somewhat amused smile on his face, "She has a bright future. Whether she knows it or not."

Steve was slightly taken aback by his sudden appearance, he couldn't have been standing there for more than a few seconds, Erica would've made some remark before she closed the door, "Uh... who are you?"

The man's smile brightened a little, "My name is Adrian Veidt, and I require your assistance."

* * *

_Please allow me to introduce myself,  
I'm a man of wealth  
and taste._

_-The Rolling Stones _

* * *

**I've got to stop telling you guys what's coming. Because quite frankly, I barely follow through with it. I can promise that I will get back to some of the other plot points soon enough, most of them in the next chapter, but I'm particularly looking forward to exploring this one. Super excited to show you all what happens from here on out, and hopefully I'll be able to start writing this next one soon. **

**Now, if youwant to see the chapter come out quickly, please leave a review. I know I seem like a broken record, but hearing what you all think really speeds up my writing. Even if it's just constructive criticism or something like that. Anyway, until next time!**

-MB


	6. Stars Fill My Dream

**Lothal,  
01:40 **

_Force, why does my head hurt so kriffing bad? _Zeb asked himself in his slurred thoughts. He remembered breaking into Governor's Palace, thinking that Rex had been set up and attacked by someone- probably Ezra- and then seeing the young padawan strung up from the ceiling by a thick iron rope, with Rex no where to be found. After examining the body, he and that guy who called himself a "Bat-Man" found a folded piece of paper tucked between the ropes that had some kind of mosaic drawn on it.

Next thing he knew, he was hit over the head by something that felt like a pipe, and subsequently fell unconscious. When he finally came to, it seemed like the world had flipped itself upside down... or wait... no, that was just him. Wait, what? Zeb's eyes fluttered open, taking in his surroundings. He was in the same room he remembered finding Ezra in, but this time it was _him _that was tied upside down. It was the same steel rope that Ezra was being held up by, but it seemed later on in the night- or maybe it was morning.

He could see his bo-rifle leaned up against the wall across the room, with the massive front window to his left shattered to pieces- wind blowing violently past it. Also to his left was another figure tied upside down, one that looked vaguely familiar to him, "Ezra..." He mumbled to himself, his eyes growing wide as he got a second look at the former member of the Ghost crew. He was dressed in a leather suit with a cloak draped behind him, on his hands were two cracked pairs of steel knuckles, coated with dried blood and dust. His skin was no longer the tan color that it had once been- it was a pale and crazed white- and on his face was a blood red smile painted from one ear to the other.

"Know his name," A voice came from the corner, startling the lasat warrior, "Makes sense. Both clearly crazy... possibly friends?" Zeb's eyes landed on a lone figure resting casually in a chair, his legs crossed and his hands messing with some type of grapnel gun. The man wore a brown trench coat that buttoned and tied tightly around his waist, along with purple dress pants with gloves to match, and a brown fedora perched on his head- obscuring his face, "Or _homosexuals_?"

Zeb grit his teeth despite himself, "You kriffing piece of..." He struggled a little against the rope, but it held strong, "You'd better hope I don't rip both your arms off and shove them down your throat!"

The figure's hands froze for a moment, before going back to the gun, "Yes, definitely homosexual." Zeb looked to his right this time, thinking there might be something of interest to him, which there was- just not something he was hoping for. Strung up next to him was a neutralized Batman and next to him was Rex, who looked like he'd been thrown around the apartment violently, and hit with some type of blunt object.

"You karking lunatic! I'll kill you, you just... oh... oh karabast," Zeb winced, desperately trying to shut his nose, "What is that _smell_?" It was a mix of scents that you would find in a junkyard or the lower levels of Coruscant- the smell of damp, dirty fabrics and freshly spilled blood. It became clear from the man's body language that it was him- almost like he hadn't showered since he was a toddler or something.

The man didn't seem to mind, but his head shifted over to Zeb's left, "Took you long enough."

As Zeb looked over the his left, he saw Batman's eyes were open, and his face returning to the grim and serious expression from before- almost as if he was never knocked out, "You're a vigilante," The detective growled, his eyes glowing an ever so subtle blue, "Judging by your DNA readings, you were born in 1940. By now you should be roughly seventy-nine, yet you managed to beat the living hell out of a trained fighter. How?"

The man sat there for a moment, his head tilting a little in obvious confusion, but he shook it off quickly and rose from his chair, placing his grapnel to the side, "Vigilante, yes," He growled, his voice gravely and deep- almost like a loth-wolf had developed the ability to speak, "Seventy-nine, no. Don't think so, anyways." He began to step into the light, revealing his masked face. He wore a white mask that looked like it was made of cloth, with no hole for his eyes, mouth, or nose. The one major detail was that there was an ink-blot pattern on his face... and it was _shifting_, "And I am Rorschach. Who are you?"

* * *

**Mars,  
3:42 AM EST, Earth Time**

_"I'm glad to see you're still here," _The blank and emotionless voice from the blue man came, as Hopper turned to face him, _"I was quite concerned during my travels." _Hopper checked his watch, looking to see how late it was- but then remembered it didn't really work too well on Mars, _"It is now five hours, six minutes, and ten seconds since I departed, if that is what you are wondering._

He sighed and looked up at the man, "How the hell do you know that?"

_"Your ego." _The man said, walking past him, seemingly focused on something that wasn't there, _"It's quite natural for men like you to want to prove people wrong, regardless of the affect it might have on you or them." _Wow. This guy was a dick.

"Alright, what the hell do you want with me?" Hopper yelled, his temper rising, "You somehow know the story of my entire life! You know things that I would never tell my own _family_, and you're just walking around butt-naked with your glowing blue dick swinging around with some weird logo on your head! I don't even know your name!"

The man froze and turned around, _"My name is Jon." _He stated simply, before turning back around and walking a few more steps forward, and then finally sat down on the ground cross-legged. Only thing was, he wasn't _on the ground_. He hovered about two feet above the ground, his eyes fixed onto the area before him, but he said nothing. _Absolutely _nothing.

Hopper stood their quietly for a moment, as if waiting for something to happen, "Okay..." He offered, watching to see if "Jon" would do something. He didn't. "So, are you just gonna sit there?"

_"Why did you adopt her?" _Jon asked suddenly, still staring into nothingness, "_You seemed drawn to her in some way." _

It took the chief a moment to realize who he was talking about, and when he did, he promptly tensed up, "She was alone. She had nothing but a jacket and a beanie," He told the blue man, "Now why the hell are you so obsessed with her?"

Jon didn't respond for a long while, his expression not wavering even for a moment, _"I plan to kill her." _

Hopper did a double take, his heart dropping into his stomach. His hand flew to his side in an effort to whip out his gun, but he suddenly remembered he'd lost it. And even if he had it with him, he had some feeling that he it wouldn't do anything to begin with, "Y- you..." He stuttered his eyes fluttering in shock as he watched Jon sit there quietly and calmly, "You want to kill... my... _daughter_?"

_"Yes, of course I do." _Jon stated, still not turning to face Hopper, _"I told you she is the reason I cannot see into the future. For the first time I am not the only being in the multiverse that has power over time and matter. It's really quite exciting." _Hopper could barely breathe. His protective nature kicked into overdrive, but knowing he couldn't even make this guy blink, he felt utterly helpless.

"You think she would destroy the multiverse?" He asked.

_"Perhaps." _

"Well, then you could be wrong!"

_"I suppose," _ Jon stated, still staring blankly into the incredible and amazing amount of nothing that stretched all the way to the horizon, _"But if I am, I will be told." _This left the chief even more confused, _"By fate, since you are wondering. And when there's fate..." _A thunderous and heart-stopping rumble came from beneath them, as though the very sand they stood on was shaking and trembling beneath their feet. As Hopper turned his gaze up to where Jon was looking, he saw the sand begin to part as a huge, beautiful golden structure emerge from the baron planet's surface. It was glossy with a center tower winding up the center, with about eight elegant spires surrounding it, _"There's always time." _

* * *

**Hawkins National Laboratory,  
****October 13th, 1985  
****2:34 AM**

"I understand that you have visited this place several times in the past, correct?" The man that called himself Adrian said, walking down the steps into the basement of lab. Steve hadn't been here since the police had started cleaning the place out, taking every bit of hardware that was once stored inside and loading it up into their cars for the evidence locker. Most of it had disappeared due to "Unknown and strange means" as the Chief had put it, but what that really meant was that he and a bunch of the other cops stole it and took it to their houses.

"I mean, yeah," Steve replied, naturally fluffing his hair back and tugging his collar up, "Yeah, once or twice."

Adrian nodded slowly as they continued their descent, "Ran into a few monsters, I presume," He said, looking over his shoulder at the teen, "It was quite brave of you to come here. It must've taken the courage of Montu to fend off those beasts."

Steve looked at him strangely, "Uh, yeah- yeah, I had to do my part y'know," He saw Adrian nod as they descended into a brightly lit room packed with flood lights in each corner, "I kept the kids safe, almost died a few- AHH! Oh god, what the hell is that?" A huge purple cat prowled over to Adrian, growling at Steve so much that its saliva started to froth up around it's mouth.

Steve practically ducked behind the man in fear as he heard it step toward him, "Whoah, easy girl, easy," Adrian cooed. Steve peered out a little to see the blonde man gently patting the cat's head as it nuzzled it's face into his hand, "He's a friend, Bubastis. His name is Stephen." It took nearly every ounce of self control Steve had in him not to correct the man, and normally even that wouldn't have been enough.

As he looked over the animal before him, he noticed it had incredibly long ears, and it had the body of a tiger with the face of a normal house cat, "What is _that_?" He asked, as Adrian turned to look at him.

"This is Bubastis. She's a lynx, genetically engineered to be more intelligent that her natural counterparts." He said, making Steve briefly recall learning about some god named something like that, "She's fiercely loyal and even more protective, to the point where she has attempted to maul several guests that have come to my home in the past." That did next to nothing to ease his discontentment.

"Well, as long as she doesn't bite me then we're cool, I guess." Steve replied, walking a little closer as the lynx walked away. At the short break in the excitement, he was able to properly take in his surroundings. He looked around to see that they were inside a pretty big room, with concrete walls and cords strung up everywhere. There was a large metal door that looked to function like a garage door, and in the center was a massive, brown ship of some kind that was shaped like a big tic-tac.

"Dan! We have a guest!" Adrian shouted. Steve looked around until his eyes landed on a man poking his head out from a hatch on the top of the ship.

"You got back quick," The guy who must've been Dan said, "You gonna show him the file?" Steve noticed that Dan looked to be in his early to mid-forties, and was a little plump but seemed as though he was actively trying to lose weight.

"Oh yes, of course. I almost forgot." Adrian said, coaxing Steve toward a wooden table with a tan file resting on it. The tab read _Jane Ives_. The name seemed vaguely familiar to him, but he couldn't put a pin on why. He picked up the folder from the desk, noting that it was about an inch thick. When he opened it he found photographs, all of which were of someone he was quite familiar with.

"El?" Steve mumbled, flipping through the folder. Some of them were from places he recognized, like Star Court and the Wheeler's, but others were in places he'd never seen before, "What is this?" He saw pictures of her when she was very young, a toddler, even. What stood out most of all to him was an image of her in some kind of weird bathing suit, screaming while she was inside a tank filled with water.

"This is our mission," Adrian spoke from behind, "When she was born the cosmic scales were instantly tipped uneven, and she attracted the attention of someone very, _very _powerful." Steve turned around, closing the folder and looking at the man, who seemed calm on the surface, but going by his eyes he was clearly deep in thought.

"Yeah, and we dealt with him," Steve replied, to which Adrian tilted his head in interest, "We killed that thing back at star court. It's dead."

The other man laughed out loud, but it wasn't menacing like he'd thought it would be, more like amusement, "Do you truly think that a monster from another dimension was the _only _creature that became interested in someone like her?" Adrian mused, stepping towards Steve, "That something incapable of doing anything but killing and destroying would be the largest threat you would ever face in her presence?" His face had shifted from relaxed and formal to stoic and deadly serious.

"Wait, what are you saying?" Steve asked, furrowing his brow in visible confusion.

"I am _saying_," Adrian said, stopping when his face was shrouded in shadows, with only his eyes glimmering through, "That if an unstoppable force pushes past everything that threatens her in the universe she resides in," He leaned in his blue eyes shining, "What then happens when she finally meets an _immovable object_?"

* * *

_Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face_  
_Stars fill my dream_  
_I'm a traveler of both time and space_  
_To be where I have been_

_-Led Zeppelin _

* * *

**Finding quotes is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Now I gotta listen to a bunch of '60s and '70s songs. Not that I have a problem with that, since that's the best music (Do not come at me with all that future funk shit, cuz its shit), but you like what you like. Anyways, if any of you are watching the Watchmen HBO series, please do not put spoilers in the reviews, because I'm waiting till I finish this story to watch it, so that the ideas in the show don't bleed over into this. As you can see, I'm starting to tie everything together, but we still have a long way to go before the end, so strap in, this'll be a wild ride. **

**I'm trying to make this equally story-driven as it is just for fan service, hence the many parallels to Watchmen and Doomsday Clock, but it will not be a carbon-copy like Agent of Chaos was to Killing Joke. **

**Post a review if you enjoyed, since it always feeds my ego, and when my ego is fed my writing is better. Until next time!  
**-MB


	7. Now The Best Years Have Come And Gone

**Hawkins National Laboratory,  
****October 13th, 1985  
3:29 AM**

"Please, sit, Mr. Harrington," Adrian's voice drew closer as a shadow was cast in the door into Archie, "I have a few private matters to discuss with Dan. Watch Bubastis for me, will you?" The kid said something, probably a complaint, but Adrian seemed to ignore him and shut the door, leaving him and Dan inside the sound-proof walls of the Owl-Ship. Dan turned around in his chair, seeing Adrian pressing his palm to his face, "The boy is an _idiot_, Dan," He mumbled miserably, "If he is the eldest of the children that know the girl, then it is beyond me how they have managed to have survived all this time." Dan chuckled at that, turning back around to further tinker with the Archie's systems.

"That coming from 'the world's smartest man'," He mused, rearranging the wires and watching as sparks flew from the machinery, "He's just a kid, Adrian. And you've met worse." That was true, and they both knew it. Adrian's footsteps came up from behind him, as the other man took a seat in the chair next to him.

"You know I resent that title," Adrian said, staring out the window at the plain sheet-metal garage door. He was probably thinking about some groundbreaking invention he was going to make, "But yes, you are correct. How's Archie?"

"Not good," Dan replied, frowning as another master alarm went off, lighting up the cockpit in a crimson red, "The jump from our world to this one put a lot of strain on him, and I'm pretty sure the reactor's unstable, but I thought that was impossible."

"It was. But only if it's left on it's own," Adrian replied, digging around in his pocket for a moment, before pulling out what looked like the reactor's monitor, "I suspect Jon knows that we're on his tail. Every time he changes something or travels then the tachyons in the reactor start acting up, but it should be temporary." Terrifying. It really was. The mere idea that Jon was aware of their antics sent chills down Dan's spine, not unlike a young boy being called downstairs by his parents after showing them his report card.

Dan turned around in his chair, standing and started towards a metal case resting on one of the seats in the back. When he reached it he flipped open the lock and pushed the lid open, "You sure this thing'll work?" Inside the case was a strange metal contraption, it had two metal rods the length of a dictionary that were mounted onto something that looked like a gun, and just above the trigger was a glowing blue orb.

"Positive. But it should only be a last resort, we don't want to _kill _Jon. Just neutralize him." Adrian said from behind.

"And what about the generator? Have you found it?"

"No, but I suspect it's in exactly the same place. I researched it in the library in the town, it should still be in Arizona like it was on our world." He replied, but there was a slight twinge of doubt in his voice, "We will leave whenever you're ready." Dan was ready to go now, since Laurie was still at their home with her mom, and the nukes were probably about to launch any day now. If they hadn't already.

"Tell that kid to get ready, I've almost got the ship ready to go. What's the name of the place again?" He asked.

Adrian's face twisted into some kind of smug smile, "Gila Flats. We're going to Gila Flats."

* * *

**Lothal,  
****02:21**

"Don't kill?" The man named Rorschach grumbled, his hands shoved into his coat pockets and his form unwavering, "Stupid." Bruce was beginning to get really sick of the guy, but there wasn't much he could do about it, since he had them strung up. The mask fascinated him, the plain white with the ink-blots shifting around seemingly randomly, but there had to be some pattern to it.

"You really believe that, don't you?" Bruce asked, watching as the man nodded, his mask shifting once again, "Why?" The ink-blot's froze for a moment... _shock_. It must be. Whatever the answer was clearly was disturbing to him.

The man looked down to the floor for a moment, "Young girl. Kidnapped. Mutilated." Bruce's heart sank for a moment, this was one who thought he was doing the right thing, "Saw killer again. Had no shame whatsoever. Not crazy, not mentally ill. Just another cockroach crawling out from the floorboards." Rorschach's head came back up, the patterns moving once again, "Found cleaver in cabinet. Was furious. Handed the cleaver to him, told him he could escape if he figured out how to get out of his handcuffs. Then burned down house." There were so many things wrong with that... things that were familiar.

"You're angry. You want vengeance."

"No, not vengeance. Revenge." Rorschach growled, "When you see the darkness, the black underbelly of society, you can never pretend like it isn't there. Tell me truthfully you wouldn't do same." If Bruce was being honest, the answer was no, he couldn't tell him that. But he had the will and experience to resist the temptation.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" The detective asked, with equal intensity, "And why should I care?" He felt his gauntlet vibrate for the third time in three minutes, meaning that Sabine had assembled a breaching party. They'd established a code that if one of them went offline for more than two hours, they would send two transmissions to one of their comms, and if they didn't respond, then the third transmission would mean that they were sending someone to help.

Any normal interrogator would probably do something about it, but Rorschach either didn't notice or didn't give two shits, "Teleported here. By Doctor Manhattan." Bruce raised an eyebrow in confusion, purposefully illustrating it as vividly as possible, "Don't know his name?"

Bruce shook his head, "Who is he?"

Rorschach's mask changed into an intense and strange pattern, almost like he was frowning, "Tall, blue. Can grow up to one hundred feet tall, duplicate himself, change one element into another, time travel," Didn't sound like much Bruce hadn't faced before, the Anti-Monitor, Brainiac, Darkseid, "Essentially _god_. Brought me here."

That last part caught the Dark Knight's detective, "God? What did he tell you?" The Joker had said something similar to that, and now he couldn't help but think that there might be more to this than just Ezra going insane.

Rorschach looked hesitant to continue, shuffling his feet in a not so much nervous way... more like caution, "Said something about Veidt, then something else about a clown..." A clown. That was it. That was the missing link that Bruce had been trying to find for the past few months. Rorschach seemed to notice the change on his face, "You know him?"

"Yes," Bruce growled, just as his gauntlet vibrated a second time, "And I know _her _too." Rorschach looked confused for a moment, just before the door into the penthouse exploded in the other room. He whirled around, startled, and quickly went for the gun he had before. He took it off the table just as three rebel soldiers and Hera Syndulla rushed through the door, armed with blaster rifles and what looked like grenades.

"Hands up!" Syndulla yelled as she aimed her pistol at Rorschach, but contrary to Bruce's assumptions, he only dove behind a couch and aimed the gun around the couch, firing it at her leg. The captain didn't so much as blink when the sharp spear-like tip flew past her, and dug into the wall. Rorschach waited patiently as a rebel soldier peeked the corner before seizing his arm and taking the blaster from him.

Rorschach began to stand just as a blue ray was fired at him from the door, and he collapsed onto the ground. Bruce looked up to see Sabine enter, still bound to her wheelchair, but nevertheless with one of her WESTAR pistols in hand, set to stun. Bruce had gotten to know her a lot better since they rescued her mother from the Joker, as they'd been hunting down Ezra alongside Zeb for the past few weeks.

Hera was staying with her son, Jacen, off where the old rebel base had been during the battle of Lothal, but she was always on stand by in-case she was needed. Sabine's hair had grown back out to where it had been just after Ezra had disappeared, still black with purple tips, and she liked to keep her armor on even though it didn't do much good given her current state, probably just so she could hold on to some part of the past while she recovered.

"Hera!" Zeb shouted, startling Bruce a bit. The lasat had been so quiet that he'd forgotten he was even there, but he figured that Zeb knew he should leave the talking to him. The Twi'lek looked over in their direction and beckoned for the troops to follow her as she ran into the room.

"Thank the force," She gasped as she entered, "I was beginning to think you... you'd..." Her voice trailed off as she saw Ezra's face, his eyes still closed and his breathing still slow, but she stood there in shock at the first sight of him. Zeb didn't tell her to cut him down, and nor did Bruce. Neither of them were going to ruin the moment. She slowly walked over to the padawan's face, now pale and ghostly white, but it was him all the same. She reached out and brushed her hand over his cheek, a small sniffle coming from her direction, but she didn't say a word.

Bruce looked over to the door as Sabine slowly rolled in, her eyes wide in anticipation, but the moment she turned the corner and saw him she let out a sharp and small gasp. He watched her eyes closely, noticing tears forming in the first few milliseconds, and her lip beginning to quiver as she went closer, "...Ezra..." She said softly, reaching out and touching his hair, and her smile sad and happy all at the same time, but it was more genuine and whole than Bruce had ever seen it.

He was home. Ezra was home.

* * *

**New York,  
****October 13th, 1985  
****The Washington Post **

Jonathan was sick and tired of being the last one in the office every time they still needed pictures processed. There were hundreds of other photographers working at The Washington Post, which wasn't based in DC for some reason, but none of them ever seemed to stay. That meant he was the only person left to be able to put the photos through the process.

He hated the city. It stunk of hundreds of rats and gallons up gallons of sewage water spilling out onto the streets, and that wasn't even mentioning all the times he, Will, and El had to tense up whenever they passed through a diner in Queens, where they saw the infamous mobster, John Gotti, and his cronies sitting eating lunch. The city was so much more complicated than Hawkins, especially since going somewhere you weren't supposed to be or talking to someone you weren't meant to could get you killed and dumped into the river by the mob.

It was awful. As Jonathan closed his bag and started to leave, he heard a crash from the room next to him, making him jump in sudden fear. He wasn't a stranger to weird things popping out of corners trying to kill him, but he always jumped whenever he heard something he wasn't expecting. He was just about to check around the corner when a man stumbled out, his hair a mess and his mouth bloody. He wore a black tank top with red and blue shoulder pads, a bandolier slung across his body that was packed with grenades and ammunition, and in his left hand was a lit cigar.

The man steadied himself on one of the pillars, and rose up slowly, taking his time to regain his balance. He turned and looked at Jonathan, groaning in what sounded like annoyance, before placing the cigar in his mouth and breathing in. He removed the stick of tobacco from his mouth and puckered his lips, blowing out a thin ring of smoke, and then meeting Jonathan's eyes, "Alright, kid," He growled, "I'm gonna ask you this once- where the hell is Veidt tower?"

* * *

_Time goes slowly, but carries on_  
_And now the best years have come and gone_  
_You took me by surprise_  
_I didn't realize that you were laughing_

_-The Guess Who_

* * *

**And there's another character who some of you will know. He's also just as badass and subsequently cruel as he was before, so he's not going to be very nice to really anyone. And for him, nice means he won't drive a screwdriver through your hand if you piss him off. So a bit of a trigger warning there, but only so that no one gets too upset when he goes ape-shit. I know I haven't covered Spidey and Iron Man much lately, so the next chapter will primarily be about them, and will introduce a few more faces into an already crowded story. **

**I think I can handle this. I think. Anyways, as always, review if you liked the chapter (please), and I will see you all next time!**

-MB


	8. When There's No One Left To Pawn

**Unknown Location,  
Sometime At Night**

"Jesus christ," Tony groaned, pausing for the fifth time in ten minutes, "How long have we been out here?" Peter shrugged his shoulders in response as he collapsed onto the ground, carefully tucking his feet in so that he could sit up without causing himself pain. He figured they'd been out exploring (and he used that term loosely) for at least a few hours. It was still dark but the sun was peeking out from over the dunes, indicating the planet didn't rotate on a 24-hour basis.

Regardless, in that time they'd managed to run out of water, crash Tony's drone, get lost, and sprain Peter's ankle. Obviously things weren't going their way today. Peter's short-lived happiness that he'd escaped the clutches of time was diminished very quickly by the desert, since despite it's current cool temperature, it was still dry and coarse as hell, "I'm starting to wish I'd just been zapped to death."

Tony didn't answer, probably because it was a shared sentiment between the two of them (As in they both would've liked a quicker death). Peter exhaled loudly, how did he wind up in this mess? It was the question that had been on his mind since the moment Tony's drone broke. The desert seemed to stretch on forever, the desert sands stretching away into the tan horizon, the night sky growing darker and bleaker until... until there was a light poking out from one of the dunes, "There!" Peter half-shouted, "You see that, Mr. Stark?"

"Uh... yeah..." Tony replied, uncrossing his arms and looking in the direction Peter was pointing, "Stay here, I'll check it out." He replied, leaving Peter sitting quietly alone, still surprised Tony didn't know that by now the words 'Stay here' meant nothing more to Peter than his aunt rambling about the events of the latest _Teen Mom_.

The wall crawler followed his companion cautiously, not wanting to be spotted by him or whatever was the source of that light. He reached the dune that was masking the blueish-white glow, with Tony about ten yards away from him on the opposite side. He watched carefully as Tony began to climb the mountain of sand, and then made his move.

He spun a quick web towards the top of the dune, feeling it snap taught as it burrowed into the sand. Peter waited a moment, just long enough for it to spread out enough that it would support his weight, before climbing up the dune himself. When he reached the top, he could hear voices coming from the bottom of the hill, and when he looked down, he was met with confirmation of his theory about where they were.

"Do we have a time frame for extraction?" One of the four men dressed in tan tunics and holding an odd-looking rifle of some kind, "I need to get off this kriffing planet." The fact that he was holding a very _Star Wars_-esc blaster wasn't the interesting part- the interesting part was that there was an _X-Wing _parked a few feet behind him. It was slightly different from what he saw in the movies though, it's red accents were replaced with blue ones, and the shape of the hull and cockpit was a little off.

Even still, it was an X-Wing. Peter looked over at Tony, who caught his gaze for a moment, shooting the younger hero an incredulous look. Peter shot another expression back in response. He turned his attention back to the X-Wing, "Soon," Another man said, "Now shut your damned mouth and get some rest, you'll need it." This was so confusing. Who were these guys? And why did that X-Wing look that way- _cheerf! _

Peter sensed it before he heard it. His Peter-Tingle... god, he needed a new name for that... rattled his brain a few seconds before the distinct sound of a _Star Wars_ blaster activating came from behind. He heard Tony shout his name just as he rolled onto his side, a blue bolt of searing hot plasma impacting with sand beside him, charring the tiny grains of crystal.

He looked up to see a fifth man panic and start aimlessly firing from the hip toward Peter's position. As the man reared up for another shot, Peter rolled to his side again, and again, and again, until the man grabbed his arm and pressed the weapon to his forehead. Suddenly, Tony tackled the soldier, pinning him onto the ground as Peter regained his breath.

Shouts came from where the X-Wing was parked, and the Peter-Tingle was going insane. This was _not _going to end well.

* * *

**Mars,  
9:00 AM EST, Earth Time**

"You gonna explain who you are?" Hopper spoke, standing a safe distance away from Jon, "Or are you happy with just giving me your name?" They were currently standing on the balcony to the glass palace that Jon had constructed out of seemingly nothing- the only new thing about it was that it was now _hovering over the ground_.

_"There is a difference between brooding and thinking," _Jon replied, as emotionlessly as ever, _"Though, I wouldn't imagine you would know it." _Hopper recoiled, insulted. Not because of the snark in the comment- but the lack thereof, as if it was an obvious conclusion. The glass structure was now floating silently over a massive chasm, a ravine so deep it made the Grand Canyon look like a cracked floor tile, _"This is the Valles Marineris. It's over twice the size of The Grand Canyon and it's depth is measured in miles." _

"Uh-huh..." Hopper groveled, feeling around his pockets for a cigarette, "And I should care why? It's not like any of this makes sense to me anyhow."

Jon turned for the first time in hours, looking at Hopper with an expression that Hopper hadn't seen before- one of sadness, _"It is nineteen days, twelve hours, seven minutes, and two seconds before I stand above this very same canyon with someone of significance to me. Some one of my world." _Wow, this guy had friends? Shocker. _"You wish to know why I am the way I am? I will show you." _

Hopper narrowed his eyes, "Uh... _show _me?" Jon nodded, waving his hand for a moment before everything flashed to a harsh white, the world around him slowly fading away. A moment later, the glass structure was floating above a city. A sprawling, vast jungle of concrete and pavement, the night sky casting an unnaturally sinister shadow over the streets and buildings.

_"This is New York on October 11th, 1985 at 9:01 PM. In six seconds, a Comedian will die." _Hopper looked at Jon strangely, just as a _CRASH! _could be heard from the building just below them. He looked over the railing to see a glass window shatter into tiny little shards, and a figure in a beige robe came tumbling out. _"Three," _The figure appeared to be male, and he wore nothing under the bathrobe, _"Two," _ He didn't scream, allowing himself to fall into the abyss, _"One." _**BANG! **Hopper had heard stories from soldiers of what it was like to hear bodies slamming into the ground from hundreds of feet into the air- but he never really understood why it was so awful.

Well, he did now. Holy shit, did he now.

Just before Hopper allowed his lunch to return to the outside world, a figure in black clothes looked out the window where the man had been thrown, as if to insure that the fall had killed him, before walking away.

_"Tonight, one Edward Blake was killed. Thrown from his penthouse window, and nobody cares," _Jon's voice came from behind once again, before the world flashed white again and they were suddenly standing in the penthouse. _"Nobody cares but him." _Jon pointed to a figure in a brown trench coat, purple dress pants, and a fedora to match his coat, along with a white mask that covered his entire face.

Hopper looked at the mask closer, seeing that the black patterns on the mask were moving, "Who is he?"

_"This is Walter Kovacs. But he's known to himself and millions of others as Rorschach," _Jon replied. Rorschach moved over to a closet, opening it and taking out a single hanger. He didn't seem to notice the glowing naked blue guy or the other guy in the Soviet uniform watching him. He bent the hanger into a line, and then stuck it into the closet again, and a _click! _sounded. He reached inside and pulled the back of it down, revealing a set of military armor- a black vest, black pants and boots, blue and red shoulder pads, and leather balaclava, _"Edward Blake was known to the government as their enforcer, The Comedian, but to the public, he was just another drunken playboy." _

"And the police just over looked it?" Hopper asked, stunned at how shitty the cops must be.

_"Yes, but not on purpose. They just didn't care enough to look in his _closet_," _ Jon answered. Rorschach pulled the armor out piece by piece, examining it carefully, _"You asked me why I'm here," _Jon continued, _"There is a lot I have to show you." _

* * *

**New York,  
October 13th, 1985  
The Washington Post**

"Jonathan?" Joyce called- no answer. It was nearly ten o'clock at night- an hour after The Post usually closed. She softly closed the door to her car and looked up into the windows- the whole building was pitch black. No lights of any kind illuminating a single piece of furniture. Joyce looked around nervously, making sure the coast was clear. Night was the worst possible time to be on the streets, everyone knew that, but her son was missing, and at that point, all other risks went out the window.

Eleven- or Jane, now- and Will were still at the apartment. Joyce made sure that they were both asleep before she left, since she knew they would both follow her if given the chance. The night air was windy and dry, newspapers tumbling down the sidewalk making a bone-chilling rustling noise- it seemed like bad things always happened on nights like this, and with her luck, that trend would more than likely continue.

When she opened the door into the building, a breeze of cold air rushed past her as she stepped into the building. Ever since the Watergate story, The Washington Post had grown significantly- the building was now a six-story office building with a large open area littered with desks and stray papers, while metal balconies and cross-ways lined the walls.

_Crack. _A sudden sound startled the worried mother, it was light and soft but definitely not a pigeon bumping into a window. As she walked in the direction the sound had come from, she began to hear a grovelling voice somewhere upstairs. "Jonathan?" She called, and then the voice stopped abruptly. Annnnd _now _she wished she'd brought Eleven.

There was a deafening silence for a moment- a moment that felt like ten minutes- before white light began to stream out of what seemed to be an opened door. Joyce frantically looked around, there had to be _something _she could use. Soon enough, her eyes fell upon a pair of scissors tucked into a red cup on somebody's desk. Swiftly grabbing them from their container, she turned back towards the light- just in time to see it disappear, followed by the sound of a door slamming.

She thought about hiding behind a desk and waiting for whoever it was to come to her, but if her son was in danger, she was gong on the offense. Remembering the initial tour she and Jonathan had taken of the building, she ran towards the access stairs, opening the door quietly and slipping inside without a trace... until she heard a muffled scream from behind.

* * *

Jonathan tried to shout for his mother to duck just as his captor slammed his fist into her face, sending her crumpling to the ground, "Stupid. You really think that I'd believe for a second that you'd come up the _main stairs_?" The man spoke, nudging Jonathan's mom a little with his boot. For a moment, he seemed to think she was out cold, but that moment ended when she brought up a pair of silver scissors and tried to plunge them into his foot, which of course he caught.

The man twisted her hand, causing her to drop the scissors and shout in sudden pain, "Who the hell-" Joyce began, but was cut-off by the man throwing her against the wall, taking out a pistol and pointing it at her face.

"Watch it," The man hissed, making a pseudo-disgusted face, "Your kid's listening!" He said, pointing directly at Jonathan. Her eyes widened at the sight of him, and honestly, he couldn't blame her. He was gagged with a piece of duct tape after he screamed for his mother after he saw her pull up, and bound to a metal chair by metal handcuffs. Scattered about his face were various cuts and bruises- or maybe they were scrapes, "I will ask you this once: _what does Veidt want with me_?"

_Oh, there he goes again. _Jonathan thought, rolling his eyes. Joyce furrowed her eye brows, wiping blood from her mouth, "Who?"

The man rolled his eyes, turning and walking towards Jonathan, "Your little shit-bag said the same god damned thing," He said. As he disappeared from Jonathan's sight, Joyce screamed just before a cold, metal cylinder pressed against his forehead, "Right now, I'm in a relatively good mood, so I'm going to give you five seconds- FIVE FUCKING SECONDS- to answer my question..." He pushed the gun harder- so hard that Jonathan felt like it would crush his skull, "_WHAT THE HELL DOES ADRIAN WANT WITH ME?_"

"Wh- who is..." Joyce started, but the man only pressed harder.

"Five,"

"I don't know who you're talking about!"

"Four,"

"I don't know, please!"

"Three,"

"Stop!"

"Two,"

"I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!"

"One."

**_BANG!_**

* * *

_Your soul is able, death is all you cradle_  
_Sleepin' on the nails, there's nowhere left to fall_  
_You have admired, what every man desires_  
_Everyone is king when there's no one left to pawn_

_-Black Rebel Motorcycle Club_

* * *

**Curse words! I swear to god if you guys start complaining about that imma put Baby Yoda into this story just to have Doctor Manhattan turn him into green yogurt (just kidding he's the most precious thing i've ever seen). Sorry this took me over a month to get this out the door, but first I saw The Shining for the very first time (I know, im an uncultured swine), then The Irishman came out, then I accidentally binge-watched HBO's Watchmen series, that's not even COUNTING The Mandalorian... it's been a crazy month. **

**Anyways, expect more chapters to come out soon, and even sooner if you review! Please leave one on your way out if you have a second. Until next time!**

-MB


	9. And This Is Not Our Fate

**Arizona, Maricopa County,  
October 14th, 1985  
****12:32 AM EST**

"Land-ho!" The Owl-Ship shook violently as Dan shouted over the intercom, startling Adrian out of his sleep suddenly. The lights flickered and the various compartments and panels rattled loudly, making Steve trip over Bubastis's paw as the cat bounded about excitedly. It appeared that owls-for-brains had forgotten to prime _Archie_'s landing gear before take off, "Errr... sorry about that..."

"Christ almighty!" Steve shouted, prompting Adrian to roll his eyes in annoyance. He checked the time, _12:32 AM EST_. That put them at _11:32 AM_, Central Time, they'd been traveling for a little over nine hours, "A little warning next time?" Bubastis purred and nudged the teenager's side, echoing Adrian's (albeit less fond) thoughts that he should get on his feet and walk it off.

"Dan! Is it there?" Adrian shouted as he entered the cockpit, seeing the former Nite Owl frantically adjusting the power levels.

"Sensors say there's something about a mile from here, but it could be a supermarket for all we know." Adrian groaned, still frustrated at the damage that the ship had sustained after it had sat in the arctic weather outside his fortress of Karnak for hours on end. One of the many things it had lost was its ability to determine one structure from another.

The sky was pitch dark, not even the moon illuminated the area around them enough to make out the terrain, _Archie_'s headlights were the only source of light as far as the eye could see, "Steve," Adrian called back to the storage bay, "Fetch the flashlights from the cabinet, we're going to need them."

"For an entire mile? We can't just fly the rest of the way?" Adrian rolled his eyes for the second time in less than five minutes. _Yes, let's fly the rest of the way there. It isn't like it would be strange to see a UFO with Owl-eyes flying around- and besides, they'd had the absolute most _graceful _landing they could've had. _

"And get Bubastis's leash, I'll need you to tie him up to the ship. There's no room for a cat in a place like this."

It took another ten minutes of shouting and arguing before they finally got Adrian's giant lynx tied to the ship, and they were off to Gila Flats. The air was frisk and harsh, the moon was nowhere to be found, and nor was any comfort brought by the peaceful silence that so often filled the night air. Tonight the silence was cold. The desolation that surrounded them was not beautiful or amazing- just lonely.

"What are we doing here again?" Steve asked from the back of the line, swinging his flashlight about. Adrian had to remind himself that the boy was not a fully grown adult, and nor was he an engineer like Dan or a scientist like himself.

To be honest, Adrian wasn't too sure himself. All he knew was that the girl known to Stephen as "Eleven" had some connection to Jon Osterman. And of course, the only way to truly isolate that connection would be to track Jon's path to becoming Doctor Manhattan. He'd already checked for a childhood link, but he found nothing. It was only until he started to investigate Gila Flats, the lab in which the incident occurred, that he had found the shared quality he'd been searching for.

"Gila Flats was a science lab that Jon Osterman- Dan and I's version of your Eleven- worked at before a freak accident made him into an all-powerful _god_," Adrian said, listening carefully for any signs of life, "We believe that the girl's powers are somehow linked to him. And by extension, linked to Gila Flats."

"A... _god_?" Steve asked. That part was understandable. If someone had come and told Adrian in 1960 that someone would one day become a god, he would've told them to go fuck themselves.

"Uh-huh," Dan replied, banging his palm against the scanner, "Just not like the one in the bible." Adrian wondered what he'd find if there really _was _a Gila Flats on this world- it would no doubt be different than the one on there world, but how _much _different? "Wait... got another signature!" Dan shouted, making Adrian turn to face him, "Tachyons. It's here."

"Splendid," Adrian said, turning back to the path they were on, "We have much to do gentlemen! Much to do."

* * *

**HA,  
****HAHA  
HAHAHA**

_Would you like to hear another?_

No.

_Awww... why not? _

Leave. Me. Alone.

_Oh, come now... when has your Uncle J ever left you _alone_? _

In my dreams, thanks.

_HA! And when was the last time you had one of those? _

Yesterday. It was nice.

_Really? And you didn't tell me?! _

Nope. It was about Sabine too. She found me.

_Oh... er... I'd better leave you to it then! After all, we have places to go! People to **slay**! _

* * *

**The Ghost,  
02:00  
Rebel - Controlled Space **

"Hrrn... have to sit next to _him_?" Rorschach grumbled, resting his cuffed hands against the metal-checkerboard table. His ears hurt. The guard standing by the door nodded, a pair of strange yellow goggles masking his expression. The vigilante grunted as the boy they called "Ezra" giggled softly to himself, but it wasn't in a happy or charming way- it was twisted and demented, the laugh of a mad man. Everywhere the boy went, people would back off in fear when he looked up at them with his yellowed eyes and crazed grin, but Rorschach, on the other hand, was just irritated beyond belief.

Unfortunately, the soldiers had cut his face off while he was unconscious, and left him feeling the artificial breeze against his bare skin. _Against the face of Walter Kovacs_. The white cloth, the black patterns- _that was his face_. Not this fabricated mess of pale flesh and red hair.

"Shut up," He growled, directing his gaze at Bridger, but the boy only laughed harder, "Or I'll throw you down elevator shaft." He froze for a moment, looking at Rorschach strangely, before returning to his hysterical laughing. This kid was probably the craziest person he'd ever met... besides maybe _Veidt_. Just as the vigilante was about to turn and ask again for another room, the automatic doors swished open suddenly, revealing the man dressed like a bat and a wheelchair-bound woman dressed in bright colors. _Lesbian, _Rorschach thought.

The guard walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him and leaving the four of them alone. Rorschach guessed he supposed to be scared, but right now the only thing he was concerned with was when he was going to get away from the cackling lunatic next to him, "The Alliance databanks currently have you labeled as a 'John Doe'," The lesbian woman said, pressing forward on the wheelchair's joystick and rolling up to the table, "Unless you want to tell me your real name, that won't change, _Rorschach_." She said it like it was a joke. The disgust that was welling up inside him was unbearable.

He chose not to answer, just stare blankly at the wall, "You're a conservative," The man who called himself "Bat-Man" said, looking directly at him, "_Very _conservative." Rorschach looked back at him, meeting his glowing white eyes. They reminded him of Manhattan's.

"What?" The lesbian girl asked, looking back at the Bat-Man.

The caped figure approached the table and took the seat next to the girl, "He thinks you're a lesbian. He hates lesbians." Rorschach didn't answer, but he was wondering how the hell this guy could know that, "Look at his face. Flinches every time you talk, refuses to make eye contact- probably a racist too."

"Not racist." Rorschach snapped, whipping his gaze back to Bat-Man, "And yes. Conservative."

The man glared at him in disgust, but he was used to that, "_Regardless_," He growled, "You know my name already," Rorschach scoffed at that, "But this is Sabine."

"And for the record, I'm not lesbian, sleemo." Sabine added angrily, promptly making Rorschach meet her eyes after being reassured... only she wasn't looking at him. Her eyes were fixed upon the boy, who was still giggling to himself maniacally. _Perhaps not lesbian_. He thought.

"Now," Bat-Man said, "What's your story?"

Rorschach looked back at the man, his expression changing to a dark focus, "Was night of October 12th. 1985," He spoke, "That night, a Comedian died in New York..."

* * *

**Mars,  
12:34 PM EST, Earth Time **

_"You're upset." _

"Heh... No shit, smurfette," Hopper spoke softly. He'd been venturing through the timeline of another world for almost four hours, his stomach churned, his feet ached, and his eyes- his eyes were forever marked with death and ruin. The towering golden fortress slowly roamed over the red sands of Mars, the glass creating beams of orange light that seemed like the dead faces he'd seen staring back at him, "What the hell was that?"

_"An alien squid," _Jon replied nonchalantly, as if it was nothing abnormal- but relatively speaking- it probably wasn't, _"Engineered for a suicide mission directly into the beating heart of America." _The lunch that Hopper had been trying to keep down a few hours ago was now long gone- spilled out along the black pavement that had run red with human bean juice, _"In thirty seconds you will ask me why I showed you that." _

"Who made that thing?" The police chief slurred, ignoring the statement and leaning over the thin glass railings.

_"I told you that already." _

"Well then why did you show it to me?" He shouted, turning around to face the blue time-traveler, only to see him staring at him with what looked like mild amusement, "God dammit..." Hopper growled, realizing his own arrogance.

The slight smirk faded from Jon's face, and he returned to his usual blankness, _"You asked who I was, so I showed you. I showed you all the events that led me to you and your surrogate-daughter." _Hopper still couldn't quite get any of it through his head. Jon Osterman- transformed by an intrinsic field generator into an all-powerful and omnipotent god with the power to manipulate matter and time... all within a world of costumed-heroes and unpunished genocides, _"I apologize if I alarmed you..."_

"_Alarmed _me?" shouted Hopper, slamming his fist down on the glass structure, "You show me what you have the power to do... you show me who Jane shares the most in common with... and... that _thing_..." Jon looked at him with sad eyes- lonely ones, even- and looked off towards the sun, "You showed me the end of the world!"

The blue man's eyes kept facing the sun, before they widened and his head snapped off to a random spot on the horizon, _"In the end? Nothing ends, Adrian," _He slowly stepped towards the area he was staring at, walking past Hopper before he could say anything, _"Nothing **ever **ends..." _And then he was gone.

* * *

_There are many here among us_  
_Who feel that life is but a joke_  
_But, uh, but you and I, we've been through that_  
_And this is not our fate_

_-Jimi Hendrix_

* * *

**This is going to be where the story starts to pick up, all my pieces are exactly where I want them to be. So get ready for lots of cliffhangers. Also, here's a list of all the Watchmen characters so that no one gets mixed up: **

* * *

**Daniel "Dan" Dreiberg/Nite Owl**

**Walter Kovacs/Rorschach**

**Jon Osterman/Doctor Manhattan**

**Laurie Juspeczyk/Silk Spectre **

**Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias**

**Edward "Eddie" Blake/The Comedian**

* * *

**You should recognize Dan, Adrian, Jon, and Walter- but the other two have not yet been fully introduced. A few notes are important here: Rorschach is VERY far right. He is sexist, homophobic, transphobic, superstitious, and maybe- MAYBE- a little racist. He is not a reflection on my politics or beliefs at all, and nor is anyone else in the story. I would also like to note that there is a reason that he is also a very tragic character, and I will explain why in later chapters, so don't go thinking that I'm anything like him. **

**Anyways, Sabine and Ezra's dynamic has not been forgotten, so don't worry about that, and I will be tackling it in the next few parts to the story. Leave a review if you enjoyed, because it really helps me get these together quicker, and hearing from you guys is always a joy. But until next time!**

-MB


	10. Ain't No Magic, Ain't No Lie

**?  
****?**

"Ughh..." Eddie groaned, feeling himself slowly come back into the world of the living, "My fuckin' head..." His ears rang out like the sirens that whined outside of every New York street- he must've passed out... wait, no. No, he'd been _knocked _out. His eyes fluttered open, expecting to be met with harsh, searing lights of an interrogation room- but instead everything was unusually dark. Confusion took him for a moment before he registered that his breathing was particularly labored, and the air was very hot and thin, and he could feel ropes tying his hands behind a chair, "Oh, for the love of Jesus H. Christ, get this fucking _bag_ off my head."

After a moment longer, he could feel the ground vibrating from a pair of light footsteps approaching him, as the bag was suddenly ripped from his head. His eyes squinted reflexively as he was met with a yellow lamp off in the corner of the room, but other than that it was completely dark- he couldn't make out anything except for a figure that stood before him at roughly five-foot-four, "You curse too much." The figure spoke, in such a light voice that he was taken aback by it.

"Wait," Eddie half-chuckled, "How... how old are you?" Another light suddenly flashed on- this one a ceiling fan- making him groan in annoyance as his eyes immediately watered up at the stinging sensation, "Can you stop with these damned lights?" It was a good minute before his eyes finally adjusted, "..." Just enough time for him to make out the person before him, "...BWHAHAHAHA! Really, Veidt?" He bellowed, looking up at his captor. It was a girl, she couldn't have been older than fifteen or maybe- _maybe_\- sixteen years old.

She wore a pair of blue jeans with a baby blue shirt, with light-olive skin and straight brown hair. She was literally a high school student. "This _Veidt_ guy is not here," Another voice came, this time from the mother earlier, who he hadn't noticed sitting in a chair next to the lamp, "But _she_ is," The woman said, "So I guess you found who you're looking for."

Eddie laughed out loud, "Listen lady, I've been through this before. Nothing's new to me, whatever Ozy's got you up to is not gonna work," He spoke, before tilting his head in sudden interest, a wicked smile stretching across his bearded face, "Speaking of past mistakes, how's that little shit of yours? I manage to kill him before you pulled the plug?"

The woman seemed to flinch, but recovered quickly, make Eddie frown in disappointment, "He's fine. Clearly you don't remember what happened, then," After he managed to get over his discontent with the situation, he actually considered what she'd just said- and the answer was no, he didn't really remember how they'd subdued him, "I know that you _Russian spies _know what Eleven can do," She said, gesturing over to the girl, "So maybe you should answer my questions?" She wasn't so much stating things as much as she was asking them.

"Okay first off, never use the words 'maybe' and 'should' in an interrogation," He said, horrified at how terrible this person was at this, "And secondly, you and I both know sure-as-shit that the ruskies have been running with their tail between their legs ever since Doc kicked their ass back in 'Nam." The woman tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"I'm... pretty sure we _lost _the Vietnam War," She laughed nervously, "Is that what Krushchev's been telling you guys?" _Okay, that's weird. _Eddie thought, trying to hide the confused look on his face. Why would Adrian try to convince him of _this_? He was supposed to believe that the smartest man in the _world_ would forget that Eddie was _there _when the ching-chongs **(****A/N: Again, the character, not** **me) **were bowing before that naked-blue-psychopath? What was going on here?

"M'kay lady, I'm supposed to be the _comedian_ here," Eddie replied, half-sarcastically and half-deadly serious, "But I'll play along. So Nixon lost the war?" The woman nodded, "So... is he still... is he still president?" She made that confused look again, shaking her head, "Then who is?"

"Well, the election's coming up, but right now it's Reagan," She answered, but he still kept his blank face, "_Ronald _Reagan?" Yeah, okay. _Sure _he was.

"That guy from _The Killers_? Gimme a break, lady," He replied, "If Adrian's gonna try to brainwash me after I saw that... that..." His voice broke, unable to speak the final words of the sentence, "...at least tell him to get his damn facts straight. And that he's lost his marbles." As he said this, he noticed that the rope wasn't tied correctly- just a normal knot rather than what was usually used... he was supposed to escape! That was Adrian's idea all along! _Okay, you crazy piece of shit, _He thought, _I'll play your game. _

"Well, I think that..." Before she could finish, Eddie ripped his hands from the ropes, rising from the chair suddenly and slamming his fist into the young girl's face at lightning speed, making her cry out in pain and send her flying to the ground, "Jane!" The woman yelled, before backing into a the plastered wall behind her. Eddie approached her slowly, cracking his knuckles loudly and smugly.

He stopped when he was a matter of inches from her, "So... what can you do?" He growled, seizing the woman's arm, thinking about what he would do to her... just before he was ripped backwards by something, as he flew through the air before slamming into the wall violently. He fell onto the ground, making a shelf collapse and various items plummet down on his head, "You know who I am?!" He shouted in rage, standing and prepare to rush back at the woman, "I'm the motherfucking _Comedian_, you bit-" He suddenly flew backwards again, slamming into the wall once more- but this time he stayed there.

He tried to walk forward, but his foot was tightly kept in place, and he could feel his bones being squeezed. The wall suddenly cracked as he felt his body being pushed farther into the plaster, and then he saw her.

The girl from before walked towards him with an outstretched hand, forks and knives hovering behind her, all pointed directly at him, and a furious look riddled her face, "Who... who the _hell are you_?" The Comedian coughed out.

"I'm _Eleven_." She answered, and then everything went black.

* * *

**Unknown Location,  
**

"Watch out!" Tony shouted as he wrestled the soldier to the ground, well aware that there were more just like him coming up the ridge. He rose his fist and brought it down on the man's face, crashing it against his skull as hard as he could, but it did nothing except make pain shoot through the Avenger's knuckles, "Where's a suit when you need it?" He grumbled, just as the soldier kicked him in the chest, sending him flying backwards.

Tony landed roughly on the sand, spinning to face his attacker, just in time to see the weapon pointed at his face. A blast went off just as a web made impact with the gun, pushing it off target, and yanking it into the sand in front of him, "Finders keepers, Mr. Stark!" Peter shouted, jumping over Tony's head and kicking the guard into the ground. Tony picked up the weapon and fired it at two targets rushing up the hill, watching a pair of blue rings slam into them as their bodies went suddenly limp.

"That's three!" Tony yelled back, "Where's the other two?" As if on cue, a storm of blue plasma erupted from the dunes, charring the sand into a sickening black, sending it flying everywhere. Tony dove for as much cover as he could get, when the suddenly the sand started flying into his hair and the wind kicked up, "Wind storm!" He hollered to his younger companion.

"Uhh, Mister Stark..." Peter's voice started, "That's not a wind storm!" Tony looked up to see the X-Wing hovering above the dunes, facing directly towards him. The billionare sprung from his spot and took off running, narrowly avoiding a massive blaster bolt that made the sand around him explode. The ship's wings unfolded and formed their signature X-shape, before it suddenly took off into the distance, and then began to circle their position.

Tony spotted his young friend and rushed towards him, "We've got to get out of here!" He shouted, pulling the boy up as the X-Wing came in for another strafe, pulverizing the ground around them, "No, wait!" Tony said, stopping in his tracks, "Get those blaster-things! I've got an idea." Peter nodded and took off towards the knocked out soldiers.

Tony pulled one of the blasters out of one of the soldiers' hands, examining it carefully, and found what he was looking for. He pulled at the access panel that rested just above the trigger, clenching his teeth with effort as he tore it from the socket. Inside was a blue energy core, filled with what looked like pure plasma. Grinning, Tony pulled it from the circuitry, tossing it in his hand and watching the chemicals speed up. That could only mean one thing: it was flammable. _Very _flammable.

"Mister Stark!" Peter yelled, coming back with a hand full of energy cells- it seemed he was just as clever as Tony had hoped he'd be.

"Web them up!" Tony told him, giving him the other cell, and watching him bundle them together in a bulky ball of web-fluid, "I don't think I need to tell you what to do now." Peter smirked and picked up the power cells, waiting as the X-Wing drew closer, before hurling it towards the attack ship.

A moment later a massive blue explosion erupted around the hull, the engulfing it in flames and frying the machinery it needed to fly, sending the X-Wing spinning towards the ground in a fiery wreck, "YES!" Peter cheered, throwing his fists up in the air as it slammed into the sand.

"I've gotta tell you, I didn't think you'd survive that." Tony mused, but not trying to hide his grin, "Now let's... wait that guy's still alive." He said, pointing at a pilot climbing out of the ship. Peter immediately rushed towards the fighter pilot, grabbing his vest and dragging him away from the fighter as it suddenly exploded into fire and shrapnel.

He laid the pilot on the ground between the two of them, and checked his pulse, "He's alive, just out cold." Peter said, prompting Tony to let out a sigh of relief- until he heard a distinctly strange beeping noise, "Uh... you hear that?"

"Shhh!" Tony hissed, stepping towards the pilot's body, and picking at his pockets before pulling out a small white device, "Shit."

"Shit? What's shit?" Peter worriedly asked.

Tony threw the device as far as he could into the distance, "It's a _radio_. He's calling for help," Tony said, before seeing four large objects suddenly appear in the atmosphere, "And I think they just arrived."

* * *

_It ain't no magic, ain't no lie,_  
_You'll laugh so loud you'll cry._  
_Up and down, round and round_  
_On my supersonic rocket ship._

_-The Kinks_

* * *

**A bit of a shorter chapter, but it's out quicker, so there's that. I wanted to finish this before Rise Of Skywalker comes out and throws writer's block at me, so here you go. To answer the guest's questions: I am in conflict with how RvB will fit into the story (if at all), and Daredevil will have a part later on, so don't worry about that. The rest I can't answer just yet, so you'll have to wait and see how this turns out. **

**Thanks for reading, and as always leave a review on the way out, if you've got a minute. Until next time!**

-MB


	11. The Music Wouldn't Play

**The Ghost,  
10:34  
Coruscant Airspace **

"You believe him?" Bruce asked, making Sabine jump slightly. She kept forgetting he was even there, sitting in a dark corner of the common room. It was still beyond her why Princess Leia had him given the rank of General. Not that he was happy about it, mind you. Now everyone was going around calling him; "General Batman".

The Ghost, on the other hand, hadn't changed much since the Battle of Lothal all those years ago, the same paintings still littered the walls, the table was still colored a checkerboard pattern- all of the signature traits that the ship had possessed for the past eight years.

Yet there was still something missing. Or rather- someone, "I don't know," Sabine replied, just barely managing to tear her mind away from Ezra Bridger, "He's spouting nonsense. I've never even been to your _Earth_, so I think I'd take your opinion over mine." The Mandalorian and the detective had gotten to know each other much better over the past few months, she even learned his true name after they'd stopped the Joker... or _almost _stopped him.

Bruce stayed silent, looking at the floor intently. Sabine didn't know much about the problems that he dealt with on Earth, but a giant squid killing millions of people and lying to billions of others sounded bad enough to her, "He's not talking about a conspiracy of genocide- he's talking about a conspiracy of _silence_," The detective said, rising from his position and walking over to the holochess table, "A great lie..." He placed a small device on the table, which promptly projected a blue hologram before the two of them, "Something not too different from what we're dealing with right now."

"You... think there's something more to all this?" Sabine asked, echoing her own sentiments. Turning her attention to the device, she realized the hologram depicted an Imperial Test Facility on a backwater planet called Taris. The Batman nodded, placing his hands on the table.

"Definitely. But I'm slightly worried about what we're allowing ourselves to stumble into," He said, pointing at the projection, "This is an Imperial Lab on the planet Taris- I assume you've heard it's name before."

"I have," Sabine replied, rolling her chair over to the other side of the table, "It had been ruled by Darth Revan's Empire for decades- and I heard the Emperor had a particular interest in something that is on planet..."

"He did. But not in something that's there now," Bruce stated, looking up at the young Mando, "In something that _was _there at one point in the past. A _knight of the Old Republic_." Sabine's fascination grew instantly, as The Dark Knight zoomed in on the facility's entrance- but it looked strange- almost blurry, "There's a theoretical particle in quantum physics called the tachyon, an incredibly small object that can travel backwards in time. For some reason, the tachyon readings on _this _base are off the charts," He said, the room seemingly becoming darker as he spoke, "There's a time rift there. That base is in a different time. A different era."

Sabine did a double take, "And... how long have you known about this?"

"About a month."

"And you kept it from us?"

"It wasn't important at the time."

"Well, I'd think the New Republic would want to know something about it!" Sabine scoffed, throwing her arms up in the air. Bruce said nothing, which pissed Sabine off, as usual. "Anyway, what _time _is it in?"

"That's the million-dollar-question," He replied, "_When _is it?"

Sabine grinned, snatching the device from the table, "Well, then I guess we'd better go find out," She said, "_General_." Turning around, she noticed him narrowing his eyes at her in frustration, "I'll tell Hera, but what're we gonna do with the nut job and... and..."

"Take them both with us," He said, suddenly appearing beside her and taking the device back, "We're going back to _my _world. And I've got some friends who are going to want to hear what they have to say."

* * *

**Arizona, Maricopa County  
****October 14th, 1985  
****1:22 AM**

"Keep him quiet!" Adrian whisper-yelled as Dan squeezed his arm tightly around some guy's throat, his face ridden with guilt as he waited patiently for the innocent scientist to fall unconscious. Both Steve and Adrian were already outfitted with white lab coats, leaving Dan as the odd-one out. For the past fifteen minutes they'd been going around stealing the uniforms of the workers and researchers that were employed at the Gila Flats installation- each attempt resulting in the subsequent muggings.

Could this bastard go to sleep any slower? The man's legs were straining and helplessly kicking in some effort to reach oxygen, but eventually his breathing slowed, and his body went limp, "Alright, he's out." Dan said, unwrapping his arms and retrieving the lab coat from the black-haired man. They stashed the knocked out scientist inside a dumpster behind two massive water towers that stood directly beside the parking lot, with Steve cursing nervously.

"Holy sweet mother of Jesus," The boy breathed as Dan carefully crept onto a window sill on the side of the brick building, cautiously avoiding the gaze of the guards, "Do we _really _have to do this?" Come to think of it, the former Nite Owl wasn't entirely sure why Adrian had insisted on bringing him along. He could've just left him with the shi- "This is stupider than when me and Dustin tried to drink the green Soviet-juice." _Ah._ _That's why. _

"As much as I would absolutely _love _to hear that story, Mister Harrington," Ozymandias said, following Dan into the men's room window, "We have work to do." Dan reached down to pull the younger boy up, straining as felt his aging muscles ache at the effort. Pulling the teen into the window, he took a look around at his surroundings. The room was dark and had a strange green tint to it, a large mirror stretched across moldy and unfurnished plaster- strange, for a state-of-the-art laboratory.

"So this is the place..." Dan mumbled, earning a strange look from Adrian, "This is where they saw the _circulatory system_... after Jon's incident."

Adrian smiled softly, "Correction- where they _would've _seen it." He said, reminding Dan that this was an entirely different world- a different history. A history that they were complete strangers to. The blonde man walked to the end of the room, opening the door and gesturing for the two of them to follow, as yellow light flooded into the room. As Dan exited the dark restroom, he was met with the familiar yellow light of the lobby- he and Laurie had visited the facility for Manhattan Day, the national holiday dedicated to Jon- and the pentagon-shaped reception desk. Dan looked at Adrian nervously, but the self-proclaimed 'savior of humanity' only grinned and approached a brunette woman tending the desk, "Hello, Miss... _Strode_," The billionare spoke, "My name is Doctor Veidt, and these are my partners Mr. Dreiberg and Mr. Harrington. We're new here and would very much appreciate directions to the Intrinsic Field generator."

The woman barely looked up from her desk, "Down the hall on the right, next to the bio-engineering room." _That should not have worked_, Dan thought, but what did he know? It wasn't like he was the world's smartest man or anything.

"Thank you, ma'am. We'll be on our way." Adrian turned and proceeded down the route she had pointed them towards, with Dan and Steve promptly following him. They passed dozens of scientists, each one carrying a clipboard and speaking words to each other that Dan hadn't ever heard in his life, and Steve looked like his head was about to blow into a million pieces. Adrian, on the other hand, looked completely at home as they came upon a large window into a very recognizable room.

From floor to ceiling, the room was probably about fifty feet high, and about a quarter the size of a football field, "Is this the..." Steve started.

"Yup," Dan replied, looking at a small steel box the size of a closet- but contained the power to level the entire city of Moscow or New York, "And that's what gave Jon Osterman the power of a god. The powers of Doctor Manhattan." The box was actually an intrinsic field generator- an experimental machine that charge particles and imbued them with radioactive properties- it would've been the key to winning the cold war, yet the thing looked like it hadn't been used in years.

"Need help, son?" The voice of an older man came, drawing closer to them.

"No, thank you, sir," Adrian spoke turning to look at the man, "We're just looking... at..." His voice trailed off, instantly making Dan's heart rate jump as he too turned in the direction of the voice. The man had graying brown hair with hazel eyes- but his face... oh god it was...

"Well, if you need anything," An older, much happier Jon Osterman said, "I will gladly be of service."

* * *

_I went down to the sacred store_  
_Where I'd heard the music years before_  
_But the man there said the music wouldn't play _

_-Don McLean_

* * *

**A MUCH shorter chapter than the last, but it's Christmas. I wrote this thing over the course of two days: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so I was a little rushed. However, I knew exactly how I wanted to end this, and I'm don't quite have the time to fit in any of the other archs other than the two right here. I'm running out of time right now actually, but the next chapters are going to be longer, I promise. I also have noticed a jump in the views this story is getting- people are starting to pay attention. Thank you for reading this, it really means a lot. **

**Leave a review on your way out, as always, and I'll see you next chapter!**

-MB


	12. Standing There, His Head In The Air

**SPOILERS FOR _STAR WARS: RISE OF SKYWALKER!_ READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!**

* * *

**Resistance Base, Ajan Kloss  
02:56**

"They said anything yet?" Poe called as he quickly approached the holding cells. Finn looked up from his datapad and nudged Rose's shoulder to get her attention. Two hours ago, a distress signal was sent to them from an outpost on Jakku, saying that they'd been attacked by two individuals with advanced weapon capabilities. Poe had dispatched a squadron of X-Wings to retrieve the targets, not expecting them to neutralize half of the entire squadron with nothing more than blaster charge packs and plasma cores.

"I mean, yeah," Rose replied, approaching the cell door, "If you count absolute bantha-fodder as something." The shorter woman punched in the clearance code, standing back as the door swung open, revealing two people. The one on the left looked to be in his late forties to early fifties, while the one on the right seemed about the same age as Rey. Force, where was she when they needed her?

Poe clenched his teeth and walked into the room, Finn and Rose behind him as the door shut behind them, "Okay, my first question is where you did you get that jacket?" The older one asked him.

The younger one seemed to kick him under the table, but Poe paid no attention to it, "Alright morons, I have two questions for you," The pilot began, taking a seat across from the two prisoners, "Who are you, and why shouldn't I have one of these guys throw you into a Sarlaac Pit?"

"You have a Sarlaac Pit here?"

"That's not what I asked." Poe snapped.

The eldest man groaned, hanging his head, "My name is Tony Stark, and this is Peter Parker," Stark said, giving Poe a rather annoyed look, "I've answered that question about a hundred times already, don't you guys have _E-Mail_?" Okay, this guy _was_ speaking in bantha-fodder. The newfound general of the Resistance scanned over the prisoners' clothing- one wore a black shirt with blue cloth pants, and the other was wearing some kind of chromium armor that seemed to have the emblem of a Spider on it.

"And you're from a world called... _Earth_?" Finn asked, reading off of the datapad in his hand.

"See? You know all this already." Tony shot back. The pilot narrowed his eyes at the two prisoners- they were both unusual kinds of people, you didn't run across too many nut jobs these days.

"This _Earth _you talk about isn't on any of our star charts. It doesn't _exist_," Rose sneered, "You'd better start giving us some answers- _real _ones- or this won't go over well for either of you."

"Y'know, you remind me of my wife," Tony mused, pointing at the shorter woman, "If she had black hair, was angry all the time, and was four-foot-two." Poe made a noise in the back of his throat, choking down a laugh. Finn seemed like he was doing the same, the both of them being the obnoxious "cretins"- as Rey called them- that they were.

Tony seemed very pleased with himself at this reaction, but his younger companion still looked a little apprehensive, "Earth doesn't exist?" The boy asked.

"Unless someone out there has made yet another planet-killer, no," Rose replied, providing both Finn and Poe her signature stink eye, "So your really from..." She looked at them expectantly.

The two prisoners looked at each other again, "Uh... Alderaan?" The younger one said.

Poe turned and looked at his two friends, all three of them sharing the same thoughts, "You're not from Alderaan," He said, turning back around, "And you've got a sick sense of humor, kid."

"So this is _after _you blew up the Death Star?" Tony asked. _In the name the force. _Poe thought, _I need a vacation. _The pilot sighed, then stood from his chair in frustration. There was only so much a guy could take, let alone the leader of The Resistance, "Wait isn't there... a _Jedi_ we could talk to?" Poe stopped in his tracks, turning to face them.

"There is," He said, the door opening, "But I sincerely doubt she'd want to to talk to you."

As the three leaders left the cell, the two prisoners looked at each other in confusion, "_She_?!" And then the door slammed shut.

When the cell door was secure, Poe sighed and looked at Rose and Finn, "We're taking them to her anyway?"

"We're taking them to her anyway."

* * *

**Gila Flats, Arizona  
October 14th, 1985  
1:45 AM, MST**

Steve was confused. Like, more than usual. His eyes flicked from Adrian, to Dan, and then to the man who'd come up to them- the former two looking like they'd seen a ghost, "Er..." Adrian mumbled quietly, "A- as a matter of fact, yes. We could use some help, doctor..."

"Osterman," The brown-haired man replied, "Dr. Jon Osterman, pleased to meet you." _Oh, shit... _ Steve thought, realization crashing down on him, _**This** was the guy they were so afraid of? He seemed so... normal. _

The teen poked Dan's shoulder, "Uh... isn't that... y'know, the _guy_?" It took a moment for the older man to respond, but he nodded all the same. This was wrong, why hadn't they brought the tachyon gun? We hadn't Osterman vaporized them or something? Why was... oh, right. He quickly realized that this wasn't Adrian and Dan's Jon Osterman, but Steve's. In this universe, the accident must've never happened, and he'd gone on to live his life as he was meant to. And to reinforce that theory, Steve was fairly sure he never heard of a blue god single-handedly winning the Vietnam War, either.

"Yes, well you see, Dr. Osterman, we're still trying to find our way around this place and... well, we can't find the archives." Adrian offered, his voice not shaking, not even for a second.

"Of course!" The not-Doctor Manhattan spoke, "Follow me, as you can see I get places where I probably shouldn't be anyways."

"Ha! You have _no idea_." Dan nervously laughed, as they followed Jon down the hallways, under the lights, and passing the clocks.

* * *

**Little Italy, New York  
****October 14th, 1985  
****3:45 AM, EST**

A-T-A-R-L. No, that wasn't right. A-T-A-R-J. Nope, not that either, "Jane, can you hold still?" Joyce hissed, tugging the young girl's head upright as she neatly tied it into a pony tail, "Are you sure about this?" Despite the prior warning, Jane nodded her head, ignoring the slight jolt of pain that shot through the skin on her head. The man named Eddie groaned in what sounded like a mix of boredom and disgust, his bind ropes now being replaced with duct tape. Eleven did her best to ignore him, instead focusing on the strange rectangular-shaped object that sat idle next to the TV.

"Oh, for the love of Jesus," The so-called "Comedian" mumbled, "Just gimme my guns so I can kill myself while you two play dress-up." That was of course sarcasm, but the idea didn't seem too bad to her. Joyce finished with Eleven's hair, and grabbed a black rag that rested on the table next to her.

A-I-A-R... no that wasn't it either, "Quiet." Joyce snapped at the crazy cynic.

"Or what?"

"Or I'll spray some more pepper spray in your face," El's surrogate mother shot back, "As much of a toughie as you are, pepper spray's still pepper spray." That seemed to shut him up. El smiled in amusement as she felt the rag stretch out and become taught around her face, sitting just above her eyes and tied around the back of her head.

A-T-A-R... what was that last letter? "I... think we should start." Eleven spoke.

* * *

**Mars,  
****4:00 AM EST, Earth Time**

_"...moment you were born." __I say to... no. No, that's later. This is now. _

"Who are you talking to now?" _Jim. Jim Hopper. Yes, that's right. We're on Mars, seven years after November 2nd, 1985. Or... no... currently it is October 14th, 1985 on Earth. On_ his _Earth, anyways. In my own universe, it's January, 1993. I stand on the same golden palace that I had kept on the Mars of my universe, now it is on Jim's Mars. One object existing in two places at once _without_ duplicating itself. It's fascinating how human beings seem incapable of even beginning to comprehend this._

_"You're daughter." I tell him plainly. I watch as the police chief's eyes light up, his pupils dilating and his skin sweating. _

"What?" _He asks, shocked, _"You know where she is?"

_"Not yet," I answer, "But in six minutes and seven seconds, she will inform me that she is in Little Italy, New York." _

"So you _do _know?" _He asks again. _

_"No. I will not know until six minutes and four seconds from now." I watch him roll his eyes in annoyance, just like Laurie. I frown, he clearly does not understand what I am trying to express to him. _

* * *

Clearly she did not understand what she was trying to tell her, "No, it has to be on the snow," Eleven groaned as Joyce turned the dial aimlessly- she was still trying to understand how the systems on the television worked, "It won't work if it's not on the snow!" The girl had done this several times before, from visiting Mike to venturing into the upside-down, but she had never tried to find something that she wasn't sure was even there to begin with.

"I know, I know, I'm trying!" The older woman grumbled, The "Comedian" sitting quietly in his chair, "I don't usually use the TV like this!"

* * *

"Yeah, sorry, but I don't usually think about time like that," _Hopper tells me, two minutes until I meet her for the first time. _ "In fact, I don't think _anyone _can see the future... so can you speak in English, please?"

_"I am speaking in English," I tell him, confused. I watch him open his mouth, but shut it quickly and glare at me, "Ah, a joke. That's funny." I say, attempting to feign human reactions, but I do not laugh. I laugh for the last time just as I leave Wally and Janey to get my watch from the Intrinsic Field Generator in Gila Flats, New Mexico. I understand that he doesn't get it. _

* * *

"I got it!" Joyce shouted excitedly, as the sound of buzzing and static radio signals cut into Eleven's ears.

* * *

_One minute. _

* * *

A-T-A-R...

* * *

_Forty-five seconds.  
_

* * *

T-A-R... what was that last letter?

* * *

_Thirty-seconds.  
_

* * *

A-T-A-R...

* * *

_Twenty-seconds_

* * *

A-T-A-R... I! Atari!

* * *

_Ten seconds. _

* * *

That's what it was, an Atari 3000!

* * *

_Five seconds. _

* * *

Feeling satisfied, Eleven reached out her hand, feeling the all-to familiar tingle run down her spine.

* * *

_Four seconds.  
_

* * *

The sounds of the apartment and the rest of the world began to fade away.

* * *

_Three...  
_

* * *

The floor slowly vanished, and she felt nothing but air.

* * *

_"I understand that you do not... oh..." I trail off. It's time. _

* * *

She opened her eyes.

* * *

"Time? Time for wha-" _Two... _

* * *

Eleven looked around, finding herself in pure and utter blackness, until... _"Hello." _

* * *

_One._

* * *

_Then all at once he was standing there so sure of himself his head in the air_  
_My heart was breaking which one would it be_  
_Then you turned around and walked away with me _

_-Roy Orbison_

* * *

**And the clock hits midnight. And speaking of midnight, happy '20! But don't worry, to the people who've read Watchmen, this story will pass midnight at least three more times before it's over. I also have decided to introduce a new fandom in the coming chapters, one that will be instantly recognizable to a lot of you, but with a new twist on it since this is dealing with Doctor Manhattan and timestreams. Until next time!**

-MB


	13. The Souls Of Previous Times

_"Hello." _The words were spoken in a completely foreign tone to Eleven's ears, boundless and bare, yet filled with thought and calculation, _"You must be Jane." _The sight that met the girl's eyes was alarming, to put it mildly. A quite muscular, quite blue, and quite nude man stood before her, his azure glow reflecting off the black waters that covered their feet. Or actually, just her feet. The blue man's feet seemed to be position atop of the water, as though he was standing above it rather than _in _it.

It took her a moment to get over her shock, "Who are you?" She asked, trying to keep her wandering eyes off of his... man parts. When she forced her gaze onto his face, her attention was quickly ripped away from everything else, fascinated by his glowing white eyes and the black emblem on his forehead. She'd seen that icon before- the black circle surrounded by a ring with a smaller circle on top of it- she'd seen it often at the lab she was raised in.

_"My name is Jon Osterman," _The blue man said, his mouth being the only part of his body that moved, _"I'm very pleased to meet you, Jane." _He seemed to mean that, but then again she wouldn't know any better because of his completely and utterly monotone voice.

"I... that man, Eddie," She said, taking a step to her side, which subsequently caused Jon to do the same, "He talked about you. You and a man named... Adrian?" He seemed confused at this statement, but his face quickly shifted into one of enlightenment.

_"Oh yes, Edward Blake. The Comedian," _His eyes shifted around rapidly, as if he was seeing something in the nothingness that encapsulated them, _"It's October 12th, 1985. Edward Blake falls from his apartment window after being thrown from it by Adrian Veidt, and I save him. Teleport him to your world." _Eleven's guard went up instantly, _her world_?

"My world?" She asked, taking another step, "Are you from the upside down?" It would make sense. Yet another monster coming to kill her from that place- but this one in an unusually human state.

However, Jon shook his head, _"If you're referring to the quantum entanglement affect, then no, I am not. At least, not from your idea of it," _ That was a lot of big words. Words that she couldn't have even hoped to understand yet, armed only with her fifth-grade-level vocabulary, _"But, in a way, we are both from the 'upside downs' of our respective universes." _

His eyes finally returned down to her own, watching her intently, "I... don't... understand."

This didn't seemed to faze him, _"Yes, I know. Jim Hopper didn't seem to either," _Jane froze, her eyes wide and her mouth wide open, _"Yes, I have met your father. And he is very much alive, but if you would-" _

"Where. Is. He?" Eleven growled, her eyes returning to an angry expression.

_"On Mars," _Jon said, nonchalantly, _"He's safe, don't worry. I am placing an oxygen field around him approximately three martian sols ago." _Eleven furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, but the blue person didn't seem to care all that much. She knew Mars was the orange planet in the solar system, but there was no air to breathe on that planet- and what was a sol? Like a day?

"How long has he been there?" she growled, but Jon's face remained blank. He seemed to be less interested in her question than he was in the void they found themselves in.

_"Exactly that time span. Just three sols," _He said, eventually registering that she didn't understand what he was saying, _"Or... just over three Earth days." _A slight tang of annoyance was the first bit of emotion that Eleven noticed had slipped through his facade... or maybe it wasn't a facade. She wasn't sure of anything any more. _"If you are not aware of martian time..." _He began, thoughtfully, _"...then you wouldn't be aware of the tachyon particle." _

Eleven raised her eyebrows again, shaking her head, "No... no, what is that?"

_"So it isn't you blocking my sight, then," _Jon murmured to himself, before suddenly returning his attention to her, _"Tachyons are small theoretical particles that travel backwards in time- while they are miracles of science, yes- they obscure my vision into the future. The type of cloud that is obscuring my vision is not natural, which means someone must be generating them." _

That still made no sense, "What do you want?" She asked, changing the topic back to a relevant one.

Jon still seemed distant, not paying attention at all, _"But if you aren't generating them, then who is?" _His vision was once again fixed on some arbitrary spot in the black horizon, his expression completely unreadable- an amalgam of various human emotions that seemed to blend all together, _"Or perhaps _what_? Surely, not Adrian... yes, yes of course, Adrian!" _

"Who. Is. Adrian?!" Eleven shouted, her voice cutting through the silence and abruptly stopping Jon's train of thought, "Who are you? What are you doing here? Why is Hopper on Mars?" Jon's eyes returned to her, watching as her breaths grew heavy and her voice became desperate, "_Please_."

Jon was silent for what seemed like hours, simply staring at the girl with the same unwavering posture, _"It's May, 1959..." _

* * *

_"I am at a scientific lab in Arizona, not unlike the one you were kept at- minus the captive children. I am a scientist that studies the relationship between time and matter, named Jon Osterman. I have been working at the lab, called Gila Flats, for nearly three and a half months. Within that time period, I meet a woman- her name is Janey Slater. She had jet black hair, shockingly blue eyes, and the brightest smile that I had ever seen. When I see her, my heart is filled with the sensation of child-like love. We are finally introduced by my friend, Wally Weaver- who, in ten years, will develop terminal cancer and die."_

"Where am I?"

_"I am currently showing you moments in time- something I have not been able to do for others."_

"Why not?"

_"...I am not yet sure. Would you like me to continue?" _

"Does it have anything to do with me?"

_"Yes." _

"Then okay."

_"Excellent. In a few moments, Janey and I are both absorbed into our conversation- Wally becomes an afterthought as he leaves us to our future. Janey offers to buy me a drink at the bar, I accept. In a few short moments, she slides the cold, perspiring glass into my hands- and our fingers touch." _

"You loved her?"

_"I did, yes. In July, 1959, Janey and I are at an amusement park, visiting her mother. We have our picture taken, but soon after- Janey's watch falls off her wrist and is stepped on by a fat man. I tell her that I can fix it, that it will be; 'Good as new.', and we return to our hotel room. As the watch rests on the nightstand, her breath falters against my cheek, and her legs fold around my waist..."_

"Ew! Why did you show me that? Ugh!"

_"Oh, sorry... in a month, the accident awaits me." _

"...accident?"

_"We have returned to Arizona a week later, she and I are sitting across from each other at a table, and she asks if I've fixed her watch yet. I answer that, yes, I have. It is now that I realize I left it in the intrinsic field generator- a machine that charges atoms with various types of energies. I rise from the seat, telling her that I left in my lab coat, as I go to retrieve it." _

"And... you never made it out?"

_"No. I reach the chamber and get the watch from my coat, but when I turn around, the door has sealed behind me. I laugh at my own stupidity, but when I look to the window, I am met with the horrified faces of my friends and colleagues. 'The program's locked in, and we can override the time-lock,' One tells me, 'It... it's a safety feature.' The cruel irony of it all is too much to bear- Janey runs out of the room, despite my calls for her to stay with me. I look at the watch in my hands- 'Good as new.' I hear the shields sliding back from the particle cannons, and I remember a cold, perspiring glass slide into my hand, my finger tips touching the woman I loved. And it is now that I see a light..." _

"Heaven?"

_"No. The light that rips me to **pieces**." _

"But you're okay?"

_"After a few months, yes. But at the same moment in cosmic time that I return- hovering above Janey, Wally, and the rest of the scientists- an infant child is being born on November 22nd, 1971. You." _

"..."

_"My skin has turned completely blue, my eyes a haunting white, and my body muscular and at peak human condition. The government calls me Doctor Manhattan... just as two digits are stamped onto a young girl's wrist. One. One. **Eleven**."_

* * *

**Taris,  
****04:32  
**

"Is this the place?" Rex asked, bouncing his feet nervously as the Ghost entered the Tarisian atmosphere. He'd joined them after receiving medical treatment from the wounds Ezra- or perhaps Rorschach- had inflicted upon him on Lothal. Also with them was Hera Syndulla and Bo Katan, the latter of which had insisted on accompanying the crew when she'd heard someone else was behind the damage the Joker had done to Mandalore.

"It is," Sabine said, looking at the holo-map as Bruce sat in the co-pilot's chair next to Hera. For the last hour she'd been trying to reach Ezra through the haze of insanity that plagued his mind- so far she'd come up with nothing. The Dark Knight could tell it had been weighing down on her- you didn't need to be a Jedi to see the thousand-mile-stare that had been in her eyes ever since the padawan woke up, "But it'll be hard to find the exact location of the base," She said, "The entire planet is nothing but buildings and high-rises for the first thirty-thousand feet of atmosphere."

The young Mandalorian girl sat in the chair behind Bruce, with Rex beside her and Bo Katan holding onto the rail latched to the ceiling, "I've reached out to some of my contacts here," Bo said, "They've told me that the base is built into an ancient ship-wreck that crashed here nearly three-thousand years ago, apparently the remains of the Endar Spire."

"The ship that carried Darth Revan?" Hera asked, visibly doing a double take in surprise, "I was under the impression those were just _legends_." That was what most people assumed about the ancient sith lord- nothing more than a fairy story meant to scare young children. Bruce had seen the Twi'lek use it on her young son, Jacen, _'Go to sleep or else Darth Revan'll getchya!' _ She'd said.

"That makes two of us," Rex replied, looking over to Bruce, "But apparently, mynock-man, here thinks there's something to it." Bruce chose not to answer. Unfortunately, he found the clone rather unreasonable when it came to trust. Granted, he _was_ expecting a seasoned soldier to take the guy in the bat costume's claims that a bed-time story for kids was actually real and holds the secrets of time and space.

"Well, he's not alone," Sabine interjected, looking over her shoulder at her crew-mate, "One of my friends from the Blood-Sister days told me that he'd found it back before the first Death Star," The clouds slowly began to clear as she said this, "Never got his name. But then again, he never tells _anyone _his name."

"You Mandalorians have very odd reasoning," Hera mused, "But... it does sound familiar..." Bruce didn't even need to look to know that was directed at him. He could feel the Ghost shake as the cloud-cover complete disappeared, revealing the ancient city surface. The detective did a double take upon seeing it- it was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. The entire surface was covered in what was once chrome, glistening metal, with long deactivated machinery and technology littering it's over-grown textures.

"_This must've been what Krypton looked like..._" Bruce mumbled to himself, extracting a grunt of interest from Bo Katan, "Nothing. Just reminded me of a friend." If there was any time that he wished that näive boy-scout were by his side, it was now- when time itself was the enemy.

The Ghost soared over the vine-covered city-scape, the entire planet seemingly silent except for the whistle of the wind and the hum of the ship's engines, "The planet was abandoned centuries ago," The red-headed leader of Mandalore explained, "The most occupation it's had since the Old Republic was whatever Palpatine was doing down here. Other than that, it's effectively a dead planet."

"If there's one thing Gotham has taught me," Bruce responded, "It's that _nothing _is ever truly dead." The quiet was putting him on edge, that much was clear to him and everyone else in the room, but in his life- quiet usually meant something ready to kill was waiting just around the next corner.

"This "Gotham" must be one hell of a town," Rex chuckled, which earned a slightly amused grunt from Bruce. _You've got no idea. _"But if there's anything serving in the Republic has taught _me_, it's that you never go to a weird energy source without a Jedi at your side. And our's is locked up in the other room with Mr. sunshine over there."

"That's a fair point," Hera answered, "Where's Ahsoka?"

"Meeting with Commander Skywalker on Yavin IV," Sabine replied, tapping her datapad, "We're on our own on this one." Bruce had heard a lot about this "Ahsoka" character- supposedly she didn't follow the laws of the Jedi like Ezra or Kanan Jarrus did, and from what he knew of Jason Todd, doing things your own way usually resulted in a bad situation for everyone, "We're approaching my contact's RV point now, be ready."

* * *

**Gila Flats, Arizona  
****October 14th, 1985  
****1:56 AM **

There were very few things that spooked Adrian Veidt. He had overcome the common fears of the human race, like the fear fictional characters or settings found in films or novels, the fear of the unknown, or the fear of the dark, all of those primitive phobias created by the imagination. No, he was afraid of _facts_. They terrified him. It's why he did what he did in his world's 1985.

Sure, being afraid of the truth covered a wide range of things, but nothing sent chills down his spine more than Jon Osterman. Now, of course, he was face to face with the man who came before Doctor Manhattan, who's existence single-handedly changed the course of history. He probably wouldn't have recognized him if he hadn't studied Jon intensely during 1984 and '85, memorizing every photograph he'd ever been in- from yearbooks, to work photos, and even baby pictures.

As he, Dan, and Steve followed Osterman through the facility, nothing he said really mattered to Adrian, because he was too busy considering the circumstances. Dan understood what they were facing down here, perhaps- due to the ex-vigilante's lack of hubris- even more so than Adrian did, but Steve clearly didn't get it. Honestly, how could he blame him? The boy hadn't even _seen _Doctor Manhattan, let alone spend forty-years living in a world that practically revolved around him.

"We don't get a lot of new guys here," Jon said, startling Adrian from his thoughts, "Well, we actually don't have to many people here to begin with- being POTUS's premiere engineering facility." They approached a small wooden door just a hallway down from the intrinsic field generator, as Jon pushed open the door to reveal rows upon rows of files and documents, all of which made Adrian's heart jump in instinctual excitement, "So, uh... what're you looking for in here?"

Adrian snapped out of his trance as he tried to scrounge up a passable excuse for being in here- but thankfully, he didn't have to, "**ATTENTION!**" A blaring voice came from a speaker mounted to the wall, "**THERE ARE INTRUDERS IN THE BUILDING! BE ADVISED FOR TWO ADULT MEN, BLONDE AND BROWN HAIR, AND A MINOR WITH BLACK HAIR**," Jon slowly turned his head back to them in sudden horror, "**WE BELIEVE THEY ARE ARMED AND DANGEROUS**."

The voice cut off as the four stood there in silence, their guide's eyes wide with fear, "Well..." Dan said, "This is awkward." Jon stood still for a moment longer, before bolting towards the door.

"Wait!" Adrian shouted as he reached the door, about to push it open just as he was hit in the head by a bulky metal stapler, sending him tumbling to the floor. Adrian looked in the direction the stapler had been thrown, seeing Steve pulling his hand back and breathing heavily, "Huh," He grunted, "You have a good arm, Mr. Harrington."

"Jeezus," Steve gasped, putting his hands on his knees, "How did they find us?"

"Must've found the assholes we stole the coats from," Dan said, moving over towards the door and locking it, "Adrian, you'd better know what we're looking for." Thankfully, he knew _exactly _what they were looking for. Adrian walked over to the shelf at the very end of the dark room, running his finger over the files until he found what he'd been hoping to find, "Wait, that's _it_?" Dan asked, as Adrian half-ignored him, opening the file and smiling, "I thought we were here to look into the generator."

"We are, but not this one," Adrian answered, closing the tan folder and tucking it in his coat, "The one that Jon, here, was exposed to in our world turned his skin blue and his eyes white, as well as gave him all his powers at once," He explained, "Clearly, Jane Hopper was put into a variation that gradually unlocked her abilities- but I could never quite locate it."

"Well do you know where it is now?" Steve asked.

"No, but I know who does," He said, "Does the name _'Becky Ives'_ mean anything to you?"

* * *

_The palace of mirrors_  
_Where dog soldiers are reflected_  
_The endless road and the wailing of chimes_  
_The empty rooms where her memory is protected_  
_Where the angels' voices whisper to the souls of previous times. _

_-Bob Dylan_

* * *

**Sorry about the wait, just got back from setting up my own personal base in Antarctica in case of the Corona virus. It's pretty cool, complete with a giant squid-tank. You guys can hang out over there too if there's ever an outbreak. Anyways, to make up for the wait, this is the longest chapter yet other than the first one. I know this is still going pretty slow- and there's a lot of plot lines to be following- but it'll all tie-in together by the end of the story. I promise. As always, leave a review on your way out if you enjoyed, and I'll see you in... well, god knows how long at this point.**

**PS: Rip Black Mamba**

-MB


	14. To Bring It To Light

**The Upside Down**

"What do you mean?" Eleven uneasily asked, her shaky voice betraying her focused and serious expression. Jon- or Doctor Manhattan- continued staring at her with the same intensity, "I was... _born _at the same time you became... this?"

_"Not just born," _Jon answered, the images of his memory slowly fading away, returning to the familiarity of the black nothingness she'd become somewhat accustomed to, _"You received your code name the same time I received mine, while you were fending off monsters from one of the reflections of your world, I was fending off the Viet-Cong in my Vietnam War," _Static images began appearing around them- some moments from her memory, and others from what she guessed was probably Jon's, _"When you rekindled your relationship with Michael Wheeler, I had just begun mine with Laurie Juspeczyk- abandoning Janey in the process." _

The evocation of Mike's name sparked a small fire of anger inside the young girl's chest- which, in all honesty, was probably about as threatening to Jon as a termite getting angry at a tank. Taking a deep breath, she slowly loosened the tight knot that had formed in her chest, "Did you... did _you _make it that way?" She asked, watching Jon's face change from blankness to the barest, slightest hint of excitement.

_"Not me, no. Not of my own choice, at least," _He answered, his eyes wider and filled with a newfound interest in their conversation, _"There are certainly higher beings than me out there, but they do not reside in any one universe." _What the hell was this guy talking about?

"So what do I do about it?" She asked, shrugging her shoulders in confusion, "Why did you send that Eddie guy to my world?" She waited for answer... and he remained silent. Again. She groaned as his eyes darted around the images appearing from nothing around them, emitting a bright reflection that shone off of the black waters around them.

_"I sent him there so that he could make peace with someone. It doesn't have much to do with you, in all honesty," _Another riddle, amazing. _"But I suppose there's a lot of things that don't have much to do with you in the multiverse at the moment." _ Eleven narrowed her eyes at the blue man, trying to get any read off of him- but nothing came.

"So... are you going to answer?" She asked, but it only seemed to make him more cryptic.

Jon's expression returned to the cold, blank stare that he'd had before, _"Shone..." _Dammit, how much coke was this idiot on? _"I like that word. I've always liked it, but I'm not sure why." _

Eleven raised her eyebrow, "You mean, you don't like it _yet_, do you? Because for you, time is..."

_"...happening all at once. Yes. For both of us."_

* * *

**Old Underworld, Taris  
****06:01 **

"Sabine Wren to DJ-1, do you copy?" Sabine repeated for the eight-billionth time, "Sabine Wren to DJ-1, do you copy?" Hera had been flying _The Ghost _aimlessly around the abandoned city for hours, hoping to pick up the signal her Mandalorian crew-mate was looking for, "Hello? Do you read?" It was a risk coming to this planet- especially since their only guide was an old friend of Sabine's, and with the exception of Ketsu, it wasn't like many of them were very reliable.

Rex had gotten antsy and decided to check the supplies in the cargo bay again, Bo Katan was tinkering with her blasters- the motions of her hands becoming more and more intense as time went on, Zeb had fallen asleep, and Hera was starting to wonder if they'd explored the entire planet a dozen times over. Batman, as usual, seemed to be the only one who had remained patient throughout all of this- it kind of reminded her of how Kanan and Ezra used to be.

"What guild was this bounty hunter in?" Bo Katan spoke up, breaking the silence, "He or she may have been notified that it was a New Republic job and dropped off the radar." There was a certain intensity to her words- it'd been there ever since the Darksaber went missing. If there actually _was_ any change to the timeline, it likely had something to do with why Mandalorians around the galaxy were suddenly dropping like flies.

"It was a he," Sabine answered, "At least I think it was..."

_"DJ-1, to Ghost, receiving transmission." _Hera's head snapped to the comms channel, looks like Sabine's friend had come through after all, _"Sending coordinates now. What took you?" _

"Copy, DJ-1," Sabine replied, locking _The Ghost's _path onto the one her contact sent through, "We'll be right with you." The ship dipped downwards into the lowest levels of the planet, weaving through the darkened streets and avenues, until it came upon an over-grown clearing surrounded by the otherwise mechanical planet, "Must be the place."

Hera stared in awe at the massive, hulking ship that sat in the center of the clearing- it's shattered armor giving way to the expanding life of vines and greenery, "That's an Old-Republic corvette!" Hera gasped, she hadn't seen one of these since her time at the academy on Ryloth. These were ancient artifacts of the old war, and it didn't seem like anyone would ever see them again, yet here one was, "They're supposed to be all destroyed!"

"Does that look like it's in _working_ condition to you?" Bo Katan asked, grabbing onto the back of the seat as the Ghost landed, "It'd probably crack if you so much as _tapped _it." Batman sat silently in the back of the ship, looking at another ship to the right of the Old Republic cruiser- a _Razor Crest. _

* * *

**Skywalker Moisture Farm, Tatooine  
19:32**

_I'm one with the force and the force is with me... I'm one with the force and force is with me... I'm one with the- _**_KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK! _**Rey jumped out of her thoughts at the sound of someone at the door, "Who is it?" She called, expecting the moronic shouts and insults of Jawas. Ever since she'd arrived on Tatooine, beginning to to rebuild the Jedi Order, she'd been endlessly pestered by scavengers and Tusken raiders.

She was expecting the same thing, but was pleasantly surprised by the answer, "Land-Shark." Rey couldn't help but burst out laughing at the answer, knowing _exactly _who was waiting outside the door. She picked herself up off the dusty floor and opened the door-circuit, as it slid out of the way to reveal Finn and Poe smiling like idiots at her, "Candy-gram." continued Finn.

"What trouble have you two gotten yourselves into now?" She shot back, but her smile betrayed her snarky wording.

Poe pointed to the ship, "Those two," Rey peered out of the doorway, looking over at the parked _Millennium Falcon_, where Rose was walking two strange-looking prisoners towards their position, "Not Final Order, if that's what you're thinking," It wasn't, but she let him continue, "They're... well, we don't know. But they did seem to know a lot about the force. They wouldn't stop asking questions about it ever since we left Ajan Kloss."

Taking another look, she could tell that they weren't the most compliant prisoners in the galaxy (if there was such a thing), and guessed that the one with the beard was probably somewhere between forty and fifty years old, with the other probably a few years younger than she was, "Why'd you bring them to me?" She knew that there was something off about the pair just by glancing at them, the force moved very differently around them than anything else she'd ever seen before.

"Figured you might have some idea about what they're talking about," Finn answered, "They said something about someone making changes to time... other worlds... other universes... I don't know." It had been roughly a month since the ordeal with The First- or _Final_\- Order had wrapped up, but despite the relative peace that had been restored to the galaxy, Finn still seemed uneasy. Like there was something he was keeping secret from Rey and the rest of the group.

"Well, you made the right decision," Rey responded, staring strangely at the two prisoners, "Did you get their names?"

"The younger one's name is Parker and the older one's is Stark, judging by what they were calling each other," Poe answered, crossing his arms tightly, "No one uses ancient names like that anymore." He said, which was true. Both the names Parker and Stark were surnames that ancient humans on Coruscant had used- and few people other than Master Skywalker had been named something like that in the past few generations.

"There's certainly something different about them," She said, "I'll meet you inside, but let _me _do the talking this time?" Neither Finn nor Poe could say a word before Rey shut the door, preparing to get to work.

* * *

**Illinois  
October 14th, 1985  
5:32 AM**

The escape from Gila Flats had been rough at best, and it left _zero _room for error. Adrian had managed to navigate the group to a nearby window, where they made their escape, but not without a storm of gunfire following close behind. Government facilities were always well guarded, Steve knew that, but this was on a different level- even compared to the one in Hawkins.

Dan managed to get the Owl-Ship up and running, just in time to leave the compound and evade the fire of anti-aircraft guns following them. Adrian had been hit in the shoulder by a guard with a pistol, but other than that, they were largely unscathed. In the meantime, they had other things to worry about. The Owl-Ship- _Archie_, as Steve had heard the other two men call it- was a round, wingless flying object that had two afterburners on it's rear, and you know what _else _had all those qualities? UFOs.

Steve had been sleeping when he was startled awake by the boom of Adrian's laughter, hitting his head on the ceiling. The news of a UFO sighted over Arizona had, of course, caused some commotion. It was only a few weeks ago when the world became aware of the existence of Area 51, another government facility in Arizona, which supposedly housed aliens and flying saucers.

Adrian found the whole situation hilarious, and began to mock the entire nation for actually _believing _that's what it was, and he wouldn't shut up about it since they'd crossed out of Kansas. In the meantime, Steve had _lots _of reading material. Under the bench he was resting on, there were stacks of various books, most were about quantum physics and all kinds of science-stuff, but every now and then, something would catch Steve's eye.

He'd found a book about the moon landing, which was something he was at least a _little _interested in, but it quickly turned from talking about the story and talking about the science. He hated science. Everyone he ever met who was into science was a geek- a _nerd. _The little bastards (and Steve meant that in the most loving way) back home were a perfect example of that, and while he didn't mind them at all, he did recognize that the only reason Mike or Lucas had managed to get the girls that they did was because they had fought monsters before... or _said _they fought them. Steve still thought that Mike was lying about how he fought off a demogorgon with a sling-shot.

Eventually, the book became a little too dull, and Steve would simply toss into a pile of books he'd already read through and decided he was done with, but there was always another one just a few minutes away. As the residence of Becky Ives grew closer, a single, brown book sitting idle in it's own separate cabinet caught his eye. Walking over, Steve picked it up and read the label:

_Journal: 1984-1985  
W. Kovacs  
_

* * *

_Truth will ultimately prevail  
Where there is pains to bring it to light._

_-George Washington_

* * *

**I am very sorry about the wait, there's been a lot going on lately. That said, there _are _other things besides this story that I'm working on, and unlike this one, they have due dates. I understand that some of your patience was wearing thin, but please remember that I'm still in school, and some of the classes I'm in require a lot of writing, and you do get tired of it from time to time. On the other hand, the fact that you all are this invested in the story means a lot to me, and every review I get compels me to write, but sometimes it's a little hard actually get started. I promise the next one will come sooner, and I'm sorry again for the wait. Until next time!**

-MB


	15. The Greatest Good

_Trigger warning for this chapter- mainly because I'm covering the squid thing. Contains mild descriptions of genocide. Key word: MILD. This isn't DOOM._

* * *

**Old Underworld, Taris  
****06:32**

Bruce had never understood Mandalorians. In the short time he'd spent on Krownest, returning Ursa Wren to the rest of the clan, he'd become somewhat familiar with their customs and general attitude. He wasn't impressed. The moment the door opened, they drew their weapons and nearly shot him down with Ursa just a few feet away. Their weapons were remarkable, that much was clear, as was their fighting technique, but it was rare to find anything unique about it.

The detective had realized that each one of them had learned on of the various forms of combat that they were taught by their mentors, and they stuck to it closely. Unlike his own form of fighting, it was unusual to see one of the Mandalorians blend together two forms in a sparring session- which were the ones Bruce had learned to respect the most- and in each case, they were much more successful in combat against Bruce than their comrades.

He'd voiced as much to Sabine, who had asked him what he thought of their fighting. She found his concerns hilarious, and told him off with both an obscene gesture and the offer to try to teach them. He knew that wasn't meant to be taking seriously- convincing a Mandalorian that they were doing something wrong, in most cases, was like trying to get Damian to do his chores. _That _was a level of difficulty even the world's greatest detective wished to avoid.

Ursa Wren was absolutely aware of the clan's predictability, but was also aware that it worked against all of their enemies. She had briefly sparred with Bruce, but the fight ended after the countess managed to pin Bruce by tripping him with one of the brooms at the side of the room. It was unconventional tactics such as that that a few of the Mandalorians displayed that would carry them to great heights. Even making them more formidable than _Jedi_.

Unfortunately, the other thing he'd noticed was that they didn't particularly _like _him. That was why he was less than thrilled to see yet _another _one of them standing just outside the shattered hull of the _Endar Spire_. The warrior wore perfectly chrome armor, shining in what limited sunlight the vines and buildings allowed in. Sabine rolled her mechanized wheel-chair up to him, with Sabine's colorful armor plates contrasting the other Mando's.

"Hey, _shiny_," Sabine said, smirking slightly as the words left her mouth, "Been a while." Shiny- _a nickname_, Bruce guessed- tilted his head in what was probably confusion. It made sense, whenever he last would've seen her, she would've been standing on her own two feet, and not hooked up to a bacta-tube that was slowly healing her shattered spine. Bruce clenched his fist tightly at the thought of the man who caused it.

Shiny realigned his head with his neck, "Nice wheels." He spoke in a slightly gravely voice.

Despite the look of dismay on Captain Syndulla's face, Sabine snorted with amusement, "Thanks," She said, reaching up and shaking Shiny's hand, "Oh, and these are my friends." The artist introduced each of her crew mates, followed by Bo Katan- who Shiny expressed pleasure to meet- and finally, the man dressed like a bat. Batman narrowed his eyes as Shiny let his gaze linger on him for a few moments. It slightly irked the detective that he couldn't see the Mando's expression, due to the design of the helmet, his detective vision couldn't penetrate it- though he wasn't entirely sure if lead even _existed _in this universe.

"So..." Shiny began after a moment, "You wouldn't mind telling me what you're looking for in this place?" He was curious. Understandable. That ship had been forgotten for millennia, and suddenly the ruler of Mandalore was standing in front of it? It was _expected_ that there'd be questions.

"Would it surprise you that we're not exactly sure?" Sabine asked.

Shiny laughed, or at least something close to it, "No."

"Then good."

* * *

**The Upside Down **

Eleven could be thrown off by a lot of things. Due to her delayed education, she still was unsure of how to form complete sentences, let alone comprehend advanced understandings of time and space. The topics had been brought up on occasion by Mike or Dustin or Lucas, but none of them were things Eleven could get through her head- the blue man before her had no such reservations.

Unrelenting, Jon was spouting out words that Eleven had never heard in her life before- constantly bringing up the mysteries of black holes and quantum physics. Aimlessly, the girl kicked in the black waters around her feet, watching the droplets make soft impacts with the rest of the endless pool, _"Oh... apologies, Jane," _Jon abruptly said, drawing her attention, _"It appears I've had my timelines mixed up again... would you have happen to remember what I was saying?" _

Jane raked through her memory, drawing out what little details she could, "Something about... confusion... a hotel..." She'd been listening to what he was saying, but the moment she'd been asked to retain it, it all left her, "Wait, why don't _you_ remember?"

The moment the words slipped out of her, mouth she'd wanted to take them back, _"No, no I cannot," _ Jon replied, returning his blank gaze to her eyes, _"But I believe it is quite some time from now." _Jane decided _not _to press the subject any longer, but since she had his attention, she'd might as well return to the topic that actually concerned her.

"Well then... what were you saying about _me_?" She nervously asked, again regretting the tone she'd used to do so. He continued to stare at her for a moment, which would've been creepy if he hadn't already done so a hundred times prior. Beginning to tap her foot in irritation, Eleven wondered why he was so obsessed with time, space, reality, and _her_. Why her? What did she have to do with the most daunting, frightening, and confusing things in the universe? Other than being a smaller-than-small cog in their machinery? Her mind briefly crossed over the fact that he was walking around naked, but she forced it out of her mind before it honed in on it.

_"You fascinate me," _Jon suddenly spoke, making Eleven noticeably jump, _"In more ways than one_," Okay, that was a little weird. Instinctively, she took a small step back- small enough to go unnoticed, but large enough to make her feel safer, _"For instance, you didn't need to be placed inside an intrinsic field generator to gain your power over time or matter," _Hold on, what? _"You also never received any physical changes as I had with my blue skin," _Among other things, Eleven thought, _"And furthermore..." _He paused before continuing, _"You were born on midnight, November 1st, 1985 in my universe." _

While Eleven didn't know her exact birth date, she certainly wasn't born in 1985, "We are in 1985... right _now_," She said cautiously, knowing all too well that Jon would somehow throw her logic out a metaphorically window, "And I'm _fourteen_."

Jon nodded, _"You are," _He responded, waving his hand at something off in the distance, _"But time works very differently across universe, and _your _birthday coincided with an event in my own universe- an event caused by a man named Adrian Veidt that changed everything forever." _His expression deepened as the blackness around them again began to fade, and instead surrounding them in an oasis of white light- until that, too, faded away. And what she saw was horrifying.

* * *

**Illinois  
****October 14th, 1985  
****7:32 AM**

It was another two hours before they finally reached Chicago. Adrian had managed to keep himself busy by studying _Archie_'s systems- almost _wanting _to find something broken for him to fix. Dan was busy at the wheel, scrambling military radars and redirecting police patrols looking for the Owl-Ship. Steve was in the storage room sleeping- the boy was still young, and needed rest. Unfortunately, that was also where all of Dan's reading material had been kept, and Bubasteis was also resting quietly inside the storage room.

That eliminated the _reading_ option, so Adrian was forced to spend hours upon hours examining the ship, making note of design flaws and setting mental reminders to ask Dan about them at a later date. It was nearly 7:35 in the morning when something _interesting _happened. Steve had stormed through the doors to the storage room, followed by the sound of a giant lynx being startled awake, as the teen started shouting obscenities that Adrian had to consciously make an effort to register, "-three _million _people!" _Oh, good lord. _Adrian thought, knowing- based off of the first words he heard- _exactly_ what Steve had found in the stacks of books.

As Steve continued on a tirade, Adrian shot Dan an irritated look, as if to say: y_ou brought his journal? _ Dan responded with his typical idiotic face that Ozymandias could get zero read off of whatsoever. It was almost amusing- Dan was the most mysterious when he was trying to convey something, and the most transparent when he was actually trying to be _conspicuous. _

"-it's not just that journal, either!" Steve shouted, waving his hands around as Adrian looked at Dan again: _Wasn't it? _"I've seen the blueprints, the schematics, the test results!" Dan shrugged his shoulders and returned to piloting the ship, "And you kept it a secret?" Adrian couldn't be surprised. He had no right to be. Their teen companion would've found out the truth sooner or later- if not from them, then Jon, assuming they found him.

"Steve..." Adrian finally said, after finding a moment to get his voice over Steve's, "I believe I owe you an explanation." The boy grunted, and allowed Adrian to lead him back into the storage room, where they could speak in private, "What you read in that journal were the words of a lunatic," Adrian spoke, sitting down on the shelf adjacent to where Bubasteis sat peacefully, "But they _are_, sadly, true. However, you must understand the situation we were in-"

* * *

**The Upside Down**

It was less than five seconds before Eleven was leaning against a mailbox and emptying her stomach onto the black pavement. She couldn't take it. Around her were the sights of countless corpses of men, women, and children- each one of their eyes leaking blood, and their expressions littered with complete and utter fear. They were piled on top of one another, some had even been impaled by glass or fallen metal from buildings. The street was one of Manhattan Island. She had come to know New York almost as well as she knew Hawkins, but it wasn't _her _New York. This one was far, far different.

Madison Square Garden loomed large in the distance, on it was an advertisement for something called _Millennium. _In the center of the street, there lay on old man who seemed to be attempting to shield a young boy- who kind of looked like Lucas- from something. Jane had unwillingly managed to memorize the sight before she began hacking up her lunch, with Jon standing silently beside her. Gripping the side of the black mail box like her life depended on it, she forced herself to stand, despite her legs shaking and threatening to collapse beneath her.

There had to be hundreds of bodies on this street alone- and above her head were countless more leaning lifelessly out of the shattered windows of skyscrapers, almost staring down at her in fear; like _she_ was the one who caused this. _"Midnight. November 1st, 1985," _He was still utterly toneless, and seemed unconcerned with the scraps of what were once human beings falling out skyscraper windows, _"In cosmic time, this was the event that corresponded the __with the _exact moment _you were born." _Jane was already having a hard time with science, she didn't need science _and _massacre to distract her.

However, for all the things about life she didn't understand- she knew a coincidence when she saw one, and, from what Jon was saying, this certainly wasn't that. "What happened here?" Jane breathed out, trying not to look into the eyes of the accumulated piles of death around her, "Was it _me_?" She wasn't sure why she asked that question, because the answer seemed like a fore-gone conclusion, but there was something that seemed familiar about the scene before her. It was a_lmost like she'd been there before._

_"No," _Jon answered, glancing behind them and pointing at something, _"It was that." _Eleven turned behind her and let out an ear-shattering cry, tripping over herself as she fell backwards in terror. There, impaled and as dead as everything else in the city, was a massive, hulking beast with an eye the size of a school bus. It's head was a massive brain that had various tentacles stemming from it's lower body- each one crushing buildings under it's weight, _"And that," _said Jon as Jane's breathing began to calm itself, _"Was created by a man by the name of Adrian Veidt."_

* * *

_It is the greatest good to the greatest number of people  
that is the measure of right and wrong._

_-John Stuart Mill_

* * *

**Well, I suppose I'm not very good at keeping promises, am I? Sorry for the wait (again), but this time it wasn't my fault; you all know why I've been so late on this. My usual routine was thrown out the window after school got cancelled, so I've been quite late on this. I don't know how often I'll be updating, but I WILL be continuing this story, so keep checking in for more every so often. Now, to everybody who has been following this story from the very beginning: STAY. HOME. Do not leave your house except to do the most necessary of errands! We'll get out of this, but until we do, stay safe and be careful! Thanks again! **

-MB


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